As election night progressed, Americans were fixated on results trickling in, their faces giving way to despair or celebration as states were called for Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

Trump supporters were ecstatic at a campaign watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"Tonight is going to be a tremendous vindication for us once the election is called for president Trump," Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, told AFP from a watch party in Dearborn.

"It will be a clear mandate for him and against the policies of the Biden-Harris administration."

Nigel Mahabir, a 48-year-old psychiatrist supporting Trump from Lansing, Michigan, told AFP he was "cautiously optimistic", even "hopeful" of a Trump win.

"I feel like Trump has won this election," Moses Abraham, 22, told.

"This is over, and I feel like the world's about to be much greater."

Mood darkens at Democratic parties

On the other side of the political aisle, with networks calling Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia—three of seven swing states—for the Republican candidate, Kamala Harris's path to victory grew narrow by the minute.

Harris supporters looked on in dismay when it was announced she would not speak at a campaign watch party on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

"I am scared, I am anxious now," Charlyn Anderson told AFP as she left Harris's election night HQ at Howard University in Washington.

"We won't give up until it's done but I'm scared."

In Pennsylvania, perhaps the most significant of all the swing states, Democrats at a watch party in the western county of Erie were despondent.

"I'm just pissed off," said Lynn Johnson, 65, as he watched cable news channels, adding: "It doesn't look good for Harris. It's going to be dangerous if he wins. I don't feel safe."