Former President Donald Trump claims victory over Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president of the United States. Trump beat Harris in a dead-heat race with pre-election polls showing the two neck and neck nationally and in seven key battleground states.
The results show a clear victory for Trump, despite several swing states still yet to be called though he holds a lead, he is poised to take roughly 312 electoral college votes and currently holds 292 electoral college votes as of Wednesday morning after Wisconsin was called for the former president.
Harris is poised to take only 226 electoral college votes, two more than her current total, and is expected to take two more of Maine’s electoral college votes. She isn’t favored to win a single key swing state.
Trump will now be the second president in American history to serve non-consecutive terms after Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s. He will also be the first convicted felon to hold the Oval Office.
Trump is also favored to win the national popular vote, taking 51 percent compared to Harris’ 47.5 percent.
The Associated Press has yet to call the winner of Maine, Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska. Trump is currently leading all states but Maine. It will likely take several days to count mail-in and provisional ballots.
Harris conceded the race in a speech to supporters at Howard University on Wednesday, striking a defiant tone but pledging a peaceful transfer of power.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign, the fight, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people,” Harris said. “It is a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”
Harris provided a hopeful note and acknowledged that Democrats must accept the results of the election.
“Over the 107 days of this campaign, we have been intentional about building community and building coalitions, bringing people together from every walk of life and background, united by love of country, with enthusiasm and joy in our fight for America’s future, and we did it with the knowledge that we all have so much more in common than what separates us,” Harris said Wednesday. “Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now. I get it, but we must accept the results of this election.”
Harris had a nontraditional path to the Democratic nomination when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race after a poor debate performance against Trump resulted in massive drops in polling.
Trump has done well in polling throughout the race despite Harris leading since she entered the race. Immediately after Harris entered the race, enthusiasm among Democrats skyrocketed, and she quickly gained a lead over the former president nationally. She opened up a new pathway to victory through Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.
As the immediate excitement after Harris entered the race waned, Trump began to regain his edge in several key battleground states and closely trailed the vice president nationally.
A week ahead of the election, Harris’ lead over Trump in the national polls slimmed to less than one percentage point, according to Oct. 30 polling by The New York Times. It marked Harris’ smallest lead since mid-August.
The pair squabbled over several swing states, with polling ebbing between which candidate was favored up until Nov. 5. The battleground states remained extraordinarily tight, with neither candidate holding a staked-out lead in the seven states most likely to decide the presidency — Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona.
Polling by the New York Times, released two days ahead of the election, showed the pair deadlocked in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump only led in one swing state, Arizona, heading into Election Day, and Harris had a lead in Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Trump addressed voters at a watch party in West Palm Beach. Walking onto a stage lined ornately with American flags, Trump, his family, campaign leaders, and vice presidential pick JD Vance, stood on stage as “God Bless the USA” played for several minutes before Trump spoke.
Trump described his Make America Great Again platform as the “greatest political movement of all time” and promised a golden age for Americans in his second term.
Trump bolstered his wins in swing states and boosted the Republican stronghold over the U.S. House of Representatives and a prospective Senate flip to red.
“I will fight for you, for your family and your future,” Trump said. “Every single day, I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America that will allow us to make America great again.”
“We just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Ohio Senator JD Vance said.
Vance promised the “greatest economic comeback in American history” under Trump’s influence.
Wisconsin as a key battleground state
The Harris-Trump matchup boiled down to seven key swing states, with Wisconsin sticking out as the state that decided the 2020 election. Ultimately, called Wednesday morning by the AP, the race to the Oval Office yet again came down to Wisconsin.
The Badger State remained blue in almost every presidential election over the past several decades but was crucially secured by Trump, clinching the former president a second term.
Early Wednesday morning, the AP called the state in Trump’s favor. Earning 49.7 percent of the state’s vote, Trump triumphed in the state, according to unofficial results.
Harris trailed closely with 48.8 percent of the vote, with less than 1 percentage point behind the former president.
Wisconsin’s importance in the 2024 race is underscored by Milwaukee hosting the Republican National Convention in July. Following President Joe Biden ending his bid for a second term, Harris held her very first top-of-the-ticket campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Mark West, 54, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, was a life-long Democrat before switching his vote to red for Trump in 2020. West cast his second ballot for the Republican on Nov. 5.
Disillusioned by Democratic leaders, West said he switched his vote because Trump is able to create tangible change.
“He might be a complete idiot, but he gets things done,” West said. “He’s a little more hardcore than flippy floppy Democrats the last eight years.”
A retired farmer from Elkhorn, Rich Swieca, 62, has cast his ballot in favor of Trump each time Trump ran for office — 2016, 2020, and 2024.
Swieca said he voted for Trump for a third time because he was impressed with the former president’s first term and would like to see a second.
“He changed America,” he said. “There was jobs, the prices of gas was lower, people got more money.”
Swieca said Trump’s policies on foreign trade and the economy are what influenced his vote the most. Swienca wants more American jobs to be created and a lessened reliance on other countries for imported goods.
Swieca said he trusts Trump to “turn America back into America.”
Sarah Butke, 38, of Elkhorn, was excited to cast her ballot for Trump after experiencing barriers to the electoral process in the last election cycle due to a felony conviction.
Butke said she voted for Trump because of recent economic struggles she points to the Biden administration for.
Butke and her boyfriend moved to rural Elkhorn as they could no longer afford living in Waukesha, which Butke considers to be a nicer place to reside.
“I believe that he is the one to lead our country and get us back on track,” she said. “Man, time’s been tough.” .
Trump’s history, influence
Trump previously served as president from 2017 to 2021 as the 45th President of the United States. Trump was unseated by Biden in 2020 after Biden won 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232. Biden also won the popular vote by 4.4 percent and more than 7 million votes.
Trump beat out Hillary Clinton for the White House in 2016, winning 304 electoral college votes to Clinton’s 227. Clinton won the national popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes.
Before his political career, Trump was a New York businessman and the head of the Trump organization. He spent most of his career focused on real estate. Trump was also the co-host of the reality TV show “The Apprentice.”
Trump’s first term in office was plagued by scandals, and he is the only sitting president to be impeached twice — once for his alleged involvement in Russian interference with the 2016 election, and again for his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Senate voted to acquit both times.
Trump has been criticized for his alleged incitement of the violent mob that infiltrated the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 attempting to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results.
Trump repeatedly claimed there was widespread voter fraud in 2020, without evidence, that led to his loss. Trump has continued the claims despite dozens of court rulings that found no evidence.
Trump is also the first former U.S. president and now the first president-elect to be convicted of 34 felony counts. Trump was convicted by a New York jury on 34 counts of election-related crimes for his hush-money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels.
Trump was indicted on dozens of other felony counts for his role in attempting to overturn the election results, his mishandling of classified documents, and his role on Jan. 6.
During Trump’s campaign, he has rallied supporters with promises to revitalize the American economy, combat illegal immigration, and promises to restore America to its standing on the world stage.
Trump has been highly critical of Biden’s handling of the economy, which saw skyrocketing inflation after the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump blamed Democratic spending bills for the inflation. However, experts say inflation is more likely the cause of inflationary pressures like supply chain shortages seen during the pandemic.
Inflation was at 2.4 percent in September 2024 comparable to inflation during Trump’s presidency. However, inflation reached a several-decade high in June 2022 at 9.1 percent.
Trump was also critical of Biden’s handling of immigration, levels of which spiked during Biden’s tenure. Trump said that Biden’s repeal of several Trump-era immigration policies like the “remain in Mexico” policy, which made asylum seekers wait in Mexico for their legal status in the U.S., caused this spike in illegal immigration.
Biden saw record-high numbers of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border. However, by the end of Biden’s tenure, illegal immigration returned to pre-2020 levels seen under Trump.
Trump criticized Biden for his perceived weakness on the world stage. Trump has also attempted to link Harris, Biden’s vice president, to his perceived failure of Biden’s tenure in office.
Harris has criticized Trump on his stances on reproductive health, but those criticisms failed to land with the electorate.
Harris has criticized Trump for his role in overturning federal precedent that guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion. Trump appointed three of the six conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices that overturned the precedent. Trump has publicly claimed credit for the overturning.
Trump, however, moderated his party’s position on abortion this summer during the Republican National Convention and has said the decision should be left up to state governments to decide.
Harris argued that Trump would sign a national abortion ban, but he has not committed to sign one if presented to him.
Harris also attempted to link Trump to the highly unpopular policy platform produced by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy think tank, called Project 2025. Several former and current Trump advisers worked on the project, and Trump’s vice president JD Vance wrote the foreword to the lead author’s book.
The project included a national abortion ban.
Despite last Iowa poll, Trump wins Hawkeye state
The last Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of the 2024 election, released on Saturday, showed that Harris had a shocking three-point lead in the state.
Despite Harris’ polling in the last Iowa poll, Trump scored a victory in the state on Tuesday. Trump led by his highest margin in the state yet — 13.9 percentage points as of 1:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Trump won 56.3 percent of the vote in the state compared to Harris’ 42.4 percent. Trump also led in Iowa’s Republican caucuses in January 2024, winning with a 30-point lead — the largest in Iowa caucus history.