WASHINGTON — The Associated Press declared president-elect donald trump the winner in Arizona on Saturday night after voting updates in Maricopa and other counties increased his overall lead, leaving the state out of vice presidential reach. Kamala Harris.

By the time the AP called the race at 9:21 p.m. ET, Trump was leading Harris, 52.6% to 46.4%, a margin of about 185,000 votes. Harris needed to win about seven in ten votes of the approximately 443,000 uncounted votes remaining, a percentage that has steadily increased as additional votes were counted.

Trump has now swept the seven most contested presidential battlegrounds, earning 312 electoral votes, compared to 226 for Harris. The number needed to win the presidency is 270.

In 2020, President Joe Biden narrowly edged the state over Trump, but won Maricopa County by a margin of 50 percentage points to 48. On Saturday, Trump led Harris 52 to 47.

The AP only declares a winner once it can determine that a lagging candidate cannot close the gap and overtake the leader in votes.

Here’s a look at what the AP called this race:

CANDIDATES: President: Harris (D) against Trump (R) against Chase Oliver (Libertarian) against Jill Stein (Green).

WINNER: Trump.

POLL CLOSING TIME: 9 pm ET on Tuesday. Arizona does not release votes until all precincts have reported or one hour after all polls close, whichever comes first, usually at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

ABOUT THE RACE: Both Harris and Trump crossed this border state, where immigration is a prominent issue, several times before Election Day.

Trump put immigration at the center of his candidacy, promising to deport people without legal documentation, while Harris called for pathways to citizenship as well as tighter border security.

Independent voters are the largest bloc in the state, followed by Republicans and then Democrats, who have managed to win Senate and gubernatorial elections since 2018.

Biden became just the second Democrat to win the state in more than 70 years.

Both candidates made a bid for vote-rich Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe. Trump won the county by 3 points in 2016, while Biden won by a 2-point margin four years later. Arizona is primarily an early voting state. In 2016, just over three-quarters of votes were cast early. In 2020, that figure rose to almost 90%.

WHY AP CALLED THE RACE:

In state elections dating back a dozen years, Democrats have consistently won in four counties, in both winning and losing campaigns: Apache, Coconino, Pima and Santa Cruz.

Harris had big leads over Trump in all four counties, but vastly underperformed Biden in 2020.

He was trailing Trump in decisive Maricopa County, which Biden won in 2020 and has been a must-win county for statewide Democratic candidates in recent elections.

Although Harris very briefly led in the statewide vote count on election night, Trump has led consistently since.

The AP’s analysis of Arizona’s voting history and political demographics at the county level showed there was no scenario that would allow Harris to close the gap. The analysis also showed that even if the remaining updates showed vote swings in Harris’ favor, they would not be enough to give her the lead.

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Learn more about how and why AP declares winners in the US election at Explaining the 2024 elections, an Associated Press series aimed at helping make sense of American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to improve its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.