How will 2024 compare with the most dramatic election nights in US history?

The 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has seen an attempted assassination, heaps of controversy and discussion of a “little secret”.

But it’s not the first US presidential race to be fraught with surprise, passion and jeopardy – particularly as the contest reaches its crescendo on election night.

Things have changed over America’s two centuries-worth of elections – the rise of TV in the 1960s is thought to have won it for John F Kennedy, while recent campaigns have been dominated by allegations of misinformation swirling on social media.

But whatever the medium, the selection of the most powerful person on the planet is never far from drama. And on election night, there’s a extra layer of tension as the TV networks compete to be first to declare a winner.

Here’s some of the most shocking, momentous and downright wacky things to have gone down on US election night over the years…

The first election

Let’s start in 1788. Cars weren’t a thing yet – and neither were most of the states.

Just 13 states (of which only six allowed people to vote) made up the United States of America and there wasn’t a campaign in the same way as there was now.

But nonetheless legendary General George Washington, who had led American forces to victory over the British in the War of Independence, was selected to be the first president. It might seem anathema now but the decision was unanimous.

At his inauguration, Washington said he reported for duty “in obedience to the public summons” and said “the voice of my country called me”.

Washington was elected to the highest office once again in 1792, by which time two more states had joined the union.

Election night… live from prison

There was a lot of discussion about whether Donald Trump would have to compete in the 2024 election from behind bars – this never came to pass – but in 1920 a candidate actually did campaign from prison.

Socialist Eugene Debs took just under a million votes and finished third overall, all while incarcerated under the Espionage Act for speaking out against military drafts for the First World War.

On election night, supporters gathered outside the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in the hopes of hearing Debs speak. They held pictures of Debs and wore campaign buttons for “Prisoner 9653”.

There was no speech, but the warden allowed Debs to release a written statement in which he thanked “the capitalist masters” for keeping him there. He added: “They know where I belong under their criminal and corrupting system. It is the only compliment they could pay me.”

The winner of that election – President Warren G Harding – eventually ordered Debs to be set free from prison on Christmas Day 1921.

Read more:
‘My family are all Republicans but half are voting Democrat’
An easy guide to the US election

JFK v Nixon

The way we consume news has changed massively in the last few years, with more and more people finding out what’s happening through TikTok and other social media.

But in the mid-20th century it was TV that provoked a sea change in how people engaged with politics – arguably helping John F Kennedy win the 1960 election.

His contest against the more experienced Richard Nixon was the first time the presidential debates were broadcast live in American homes. When the pair clashed on TV it was remarked that JFK looked better and spoke to the cameras, rather than his opponent.

The close-fought campaign remained tight right up until election night and differences between how US news organisations called the result made for a murkier picture. Just before midnight, the New York Times reported that JFK had won, but NBC News – relying on new computer technology – did not call the race until 7am the following morning.

It wasn’t until noon the following day that the official result was broadcast to the nation: JFK won by just 112,000 votes in a contest in which almost 69 million people cast their ballot.

The infamous Florida recount

In the UK the winner of a general election is generally known the next day. And while it’s common in the US for it to take a couple of days to know who the next president will be, in the 2000 election it took weeks.

Yes, it’s the infamous Florida recount election. The sunshine state and its 25 Electoral College votes were set to decide the contest between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W Bush, whose brother was Florida governor.

On election night on 7 November, TV networks called the state for Gore before polls had closed everywhere in the state. Later that evening, they reversed their stance and said it was too close to call, then called it for Bush and then returned to “too close to call”.

A preliminary vote tally the day after the election had Bush ahead by around 1,700 votes in Florida – so close that state laws triggered an automatic machine recount. The first recount winnowed Bush’s lead down to just 317 votes.

The issue was around Florida’s punch-hole ballots and hanging chads – punched holes that might still have a corner intact – and how these were counted.

A legal battle ensued that went right up to the US Supreme Court, which in a 5-4 decision along ideological lines ruled that any solution to the recount issue could not be put in place by the deadline, thus handing the state to Bush.

Barack Obama’s iconic victory speech

History was made on election night 2008 when Barack Obama was declared the winner off the back of his campaign on themes of hope and change. He won more than 50% of the popular vote and became America’s first black president.

In jubilant scenes in his home city of Chicago, Obama gave a speech in Grant Park before more than 200,000 people on election night including Oprah Winfrey and politician Jesse Jackson. It was watched online by millions of people around the world.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” he told his supporters, echoing remarks once given by civil rights hero Martin Luther King.

In the speech that brought Winfrey and others in the crowd to tears, Obama also found time to praise his daughters whom he said had “earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House”.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Donald Trump alleges ‘fraud’

Perhaps the most dramatic US election night ever saw Donald Trump falsely claim to have defeated President Joe Biden in 2020.

In a speech that many US networks declined to air in full, Trump claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen by the Democrats.

“This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country,” he said on election night. “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”

He made the claim despite a number of key states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, not having been called.

The weeks following the election, before the transfer of power, saw his team mount a number of unsuccessful legal challenges and in violent scenes a mob broke into the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

With Trump once again competing to be president this week, there are questions about what could happen on the night if he loses to Kamala Harris.