NBC News Declares Obama Winner of 2012 Presidential Election

The first states are being called in the 2012 Presidential Election.

By the time the first East Coast polls closed at 7 p.m. local time, CNN and other networks projected Kentucky for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Vermont for President Barack Obama.

PHOTOS: Hollywood Hits the Campaign Trail for Obama, Romney

Half an hour later, the network projected West Virginia for Romney. Shortly before 5 p.m., ABC News called South Carolina for Romney.

Romney also is the projected winner in Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Around 5 p.m., NBC News projected Obama as the winner in his home state of Illinois as well as in Romney’s home state of Massachusetts, Delaware, Maine and Rhode Island.

CNN has projected Obama to take Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C., Maryland and Maine (the network projects three of the state’s four electoral votes will go to the President).

At around 5:15 p.m., the network also projected Romney would take Georgia. CNN had earlier called Indiana for the GOP candidate. CBS News projected Arkansas would go to Romney at 5:30 p.m. Shortly after, ABC called New Jersey for Obama and Alabama for Romney.

STORY: Live Blog: Obama vs. Romney – Election Night

Current TV called Michigan, a state Republicans thought could potentially go Republican, for Obama shortly before 6 p.m. Minutes later, CNN made a slew of projections as polls in a number of states closed. The network called New York for the president.

For Romney, CNN projected: Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska (three of five of the state’s electoral votes), North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming and Mississippi.

Just after 6 p.m., both MSNBC and ABC declared Pennsylvania, the evening’s first swing state to get a projection, to Obama.

Around 6:30 p.m., NBC declared that Obama had won Wisconsin, the home state of Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan.

About 20 minutes later, NBC declared a surprise win for Obama in New Hampshire. Minutes later, ABC projected Minnesota would also go to the president.

ABC put Republican strongholds Utah and Montana in Romney’s column at 7:05 p.m., while 15 minutes later Fox News Channel called New Mexico for Obama. At 7:35 p.m., NBC projected Arizona would go to Romney.

At around 8 p.m., the Denver Post called Colorado for Obama. That was immediately followed by ABC calling Washington and California for the president and Idaho for Romney. Ten minutes later, ABC called North Carolina for Romney, while NBC declared an Iowa win for Obama.

NBC News at around 8:15 p.m. called Ohio for Obama and subsequently declared him the winner (both NBC and MSNBC reported the call). Fox followed, with CNN several minutes later.

Keep checking back for the latest news …