Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the US election
Donald Trump and JD Vance will be the 47th president and vice president of the US after securing a win in a contentious race with Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
From Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to Georgia, tensions and turnout appeared high as the ballot boxes opened for a historic US election after a fatiguing campaign trail and record early voter turnout.
It’s an election only Americans participate in but whose results the rest of the world must contend with, particularly as wars continue in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Regional leaders were some of the first to congratulate Mr Trump on his win, and from afar in Palestine and Lebanon, people have expressed their hopelessness for this election.
Mr Trump is now the oldest person to be elected president of the US and the first convicted felon in the office, with a policy on the Middle East that’s decisive and vocal in contrast to that of the Biden-Harris administration.
With Arab Americans at an unlikely centre of this cycle, questions linger about politics, policy and the potential for change both at home and in the Middle East.
In this special episode of the Year of Elections podcast on the US race, we are on video in studio with Paul Salem, vice president of international engagement at the Middle East Institute and Mina Al-Oraibi, our editor in chief here at The National.
This episode was produced by Doaa Farid and Yasmeen Altaji. Our multimedia producer is Mahmoud Rida, and our audio engineer is Arthur Eddyson.
![A damaged car and a damaged building are seen at the site of a strike in Bartalla in the northern Iraqi Nineveh province on July 29, 2026. US-Saudi strikes on Iraq on July 29 killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups, the alliance said. The United States and Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) / Attention editors: AFP covers the war in the Middle East through its extensive regional network, including bureaus in Tehran, Jerusalem and several neighboring countries. Since the start of the conflict, journalists have been working under increasingly restrictive conditions. Authorities in several countries have limited reporters’ movements, photo and live video coverage from sensitive locations. Some governments and armed groups have banned images of missile or drone strikes and other security-related sites. / “The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Ziad OBEID has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: corrects byline [Zaid AL-OBEIDI] instead of [Ziad OBEID]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. ”](https://www.thenationalnews.com/resizer/v2/PLSC2TSQZTFNYGSCPBJVUPIB2I.jpg?smart=true&auth=b0d3bd2d2b21bfcd8f9d5a89db763ef91727ee31e46f2bd5651027a66d97a8f5&width=188&height=104)
