Trump pulls out wins in South

President Trump is projected to win nine Southern states that had been expected to stay in his column.

Trump was projected to take Alabama’s nine Electoral College votes, six Electoral College votes each in Arkansas and Mississippi, eight in Kentucky and Louisiana, seven in Oklahoma, nine in South Carolina, 11 in Tennessee and five in West Virginia.

The combined 69 electoral votes were sure things for Trump, who won all eight states by comfortable margins in 2016. None of the states saw heavy campaigning except Kentucky and South Carolina, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) faced well-funded Democratic challengers.

McConnell easily defeated Democratic challenger Amy McGrath, while Graham is locked in a tighter race with Democrat Jaime Harrison.

A number of other Southern battlegrounds have yet to be called and may determine the victor in the presidential race. Among them are Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.

–Updated at 9:08 p.m.