Trump predicted he would win the seventh and final swing state of Arizona

Donald Trump is expected to have won Arizona in the US presidential election, sweeping all seven battleground states.

Securing the southwestern state, which was the last to declare its results after days of counting, has given Trump the final 11 Electoral College votes up for grabs, bringing him to a total of 312, compared to the vice president’s 226 Kamala Harris. candidate needs 270 to win the White House.

The Republican Party has already captured the Senate – the upper chamber of the US Congress – but the race for the House of Representatives is still ongoing.

Trump has not yet commented on the update from Arizona, which came late Saturday.

Previously a Republican stronghold, Arizona voted red for more than two decades before Trump lost out to outgoing President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Just over 10,000 votes separated the two candidates.

During this year’s campaign, the president-elect promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. and pledged to close the border.

He also said he would complete construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico that he started during his first presidency. Mexico borders Arizona for hundreds of miles.

Both Trump and Vice President Harris visited the state several times, with the former focusing heavily on deportation and the latter on tighter border security and routes to U.S. citizenship.

The number of border crossings at the U.S. southern border reached record levels late last year during the Biden-Harris administration before declining in 2024.

There are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US, and many have lived and worked in the country for decades.

Experts have told the BBC that deportations on the scale Trump has promised would pose major challenges and slow economic growth – he also promised to “end inflation”.

In the run-up to US election day, polls had suggested it would be a very close election – but Trump’s vote share ultimately grew in key demographic groups.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump announced that Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo — both of whom served in the president-elect’s previous administration — would not be offered new positions when he returns to the White House in January.

He wrote in a social media post that he “really enjoyed working with them before” and thanked them for their service.

Some of Trump’s closest allies have accused Haley and Pompeo of being so-called deep state moles, arguing they may be plotting to undermine his “America First” agenda.

Former South Carolina Governor Haley was Trump’s main challenger for the Republican presidential nomination. She sharply criticized her former boss during the primaries, calling him “unhinged.”

She ultimately supported Trump, although he did not call her to help with his campaign in the latter part of the election.

While it’s no surprise that Haley wasn’t shortlisted for a role, former CIA Director Pompeo was widely tipped as a candidate for Secretary of Defense.

The former Kansas congressman led Trump’s diplomatic blitz in the Middle East, often engaging with the press in defense of his boss.

But influential voices within the Trump world are lobbying against Pompeo and Haley.

Among them is veteran political strategist Roger Stone, who wrote on his website Friday that Trump should be wary of “neocons” who could form “a sinister fifth column” within his new administration. Stone mentioned Haley and Pompeo.

It was also announced that weekend that Biden will receive the president-elect in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The meeting will bring two bitter rivals together for a show of national unity after one of the most rancorous US election campaigns in living memory.

Such moments are a tradition between outgoing and incoming presidents — but when Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid amid the Covid pandemic, he didn’t invite Biden. He was also not present at the inauguration of his successor, as is customary.

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump has also been invited to the White House to meet Jill Biden, an East Wing official told CNN, although it is unclear when that could happen.