EXPLAINING RACE CALLS: Kentucky to Trump, Vermont for Biden

Election 2020 Kentucky Voting (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Here is a state-by-state look at how and why The Associated Press is calling U.S. states in the 2020 presidential election. States will be added throughout Election Night.

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WHY AP CALLED KENTUCKY FOR TRUMP:

The AP declared President Donald Trump the winner of Kentucky as soon as polls closed in the state, even though election officials there had yet to release results from Tuesday’s presidential contest.

The news agency did so after results from AP VoteCast and an analysis of early voting statistics confirmed expectations that the state’s longstanding political trends in favor of Republican presidential candidates will hold.

VoteCast, the AP’s wide-ranging survey of the American electorate, captures voters’ choices and why they made them.

Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential contender to win Kentucky in 1996. Trump won the state in 2016 by nearly 30 points.

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WHY AP CALLED VERMONT FOR BIDEN:

The AP declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of Vermont as soon as polls closed in the state, even though election officials there had yet to release results from Tuesday’s presidential contest.

The news agency did so after results from AP VoteCast and an analysis of early voting statistics confirmed expectations that the state’s longstanding political trend of favoring Democratic presidential candidates will hold.

VoteCast, the AP’s wide-ranging survey of the American electorate, captures voters’ choices and why they made them.

Biden’s victory in Vermont is not a surprise: Democrats have won the state in every presidential election since 1992, and it is home to former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Democrat Hillary Clinton carried the state in 2016 by over 28 percentage points.