- The Republican nominee reclaims the White House with more than the required 270 Electoral College votes
- Republicans won a majority in the US Senate, but neither party appears to have an advantage in the House of Representatives
Washington: Republican candidate Donald Trump achieved a major victory by assuming the presidency of the United States again, four years after leaving the White House. His re-election also helped the Republican Party regain its majority in the Senate, leading to a renewed focus on transatlantic cooperation by European leaders.
Trump’s victory in the swing state of Wisconsin pushed him to obtain 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. As of 11 a.m. EDT (1600 GMT), he had won 279 electoral votes to Harris’ 223, with several states not yet counted, Edison Research predicted.
He also led Harris by more than five million votes in the popular count.
Trump (78 years old) comfortably regained the White House after a campaign characterized by dark rhetoric that deepened polarization in the country, as it prevailed after two attempts on his life and a late decision by the Democrats to nominate Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in 2018. July.
A source told Reuters that Harris, US Vice President, will concede the election to Trump at approximately 4 p.m. (2100 GMT). Sources had previously said that her speech would occur at approximately 6 p.m
“America has given us a strong, unprecedented mandate,” Trump said early Wednesday to a large crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida.
Trump was elected despite persistently low approval ratings. He was impeached twice, criminally charged four times, and found civilly liable for sexual assault and defamation.
In May, Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to cover up money paid to a porn star.
Trump’s political career appeared to be over after his false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat.
But he unseated rivals within his own Republican Party and then beat Harris by capitalizing on voter concerns about rising prices and what Trump claimed, without evidence, was rising crime rates due to illegal immigration.
Harris did not address her supporters gathered at her alma mater, Howard University, on Tuesday evening. Her campaign called on her supporters to return to Howard on Wednesday.
Republicans won a majority in the US Senate, but neither party appears to have an advantage in the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a slim majority.
Major stock markets around the world rose after Trump’s victory, and the dollar was heading toward its biggest one-day jump since 2020.
A Trump victory would have major implications for US trade policies, climate change, the war in Ukraine, and US taxes and immigration.
Netanyahu’s office said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump to congratulate him and they discussed the “Iranian threat” and the need to work together for Israel’s security. “The conversation was warm and friendly,” he added. Hamas called for an end to the United States’ “blind support” for Israel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed what he called Trump’s commitment to “peace through strength,” while the Kremlin said it would wait to see whether his victory could help end the war in Ukraine more quickly. Trump said during his election campaign that he could end the war within 24 hours.
Jobs and the economy
Voters considered jobs and the economy the country’s most pressing problem, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls. Many Americans remained frustrated by rising prices even as stock markets rose to record levels, wages were growing rapidly, and unemployment was falling.
With President Joe Biden’s administration bearing much of the blame, a majority of voters said they trusted Trump more than Harris to address the issue.
Hispanic voters, traditionally Democratic voters, and low-income families hardest hit by inflation helped fuel Trump’s election victory. His loyal base of rural, white, non-college voters emerged strong again.
Trump prevailed despite persistently low approval ratings. He was impeached twice, criminally charged four times, and found civilly liable for sexual assault and defamation.
In May, a New York jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.
His victory would have dire consequences for US policies on trade, climate change, the war in Ukraine, US taxes, and immigration.
Economists say his tariff proposals could spark a fierce trade war with China and US allies, while his pledges to cut corporate taxes and implement a series of new cuts could swell US debt.
Trump promised to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting immigrants who are in the country illegally.
He said that he wants the authority to expel government employees whom he considers disloyal. His opponents fear he will turn the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies into political weapons to investigate perceived enemies.
A second Trump presidency could drive an even bigger wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues like race, gender, what and how children are taught, and reproductive rights.
Harris falls short
Vice President Harris has floundered in her 15-week run as a nominee, failing to garner enough support to defeat Trump, who occupied the White House from 2017 to 2021, or to assuage voters’ concerns about the economy and immigration.
Harris warned that Trump wants unchecked presidential power and poses a danger to democracy.
Nearly three-quarters of voters say American democracy is under threat, according to exit polls from Edison Research, highlighting polarization in a country where divisions have become more apparent during a fiercely competitive race.
Trump ran a campaign marked by appalling language. He described the United States as a “trash can” for immigrants, vowed to save the economy from “annihilation” and described some competitors as “the enemy within.”
His diatribes were often aimed at immigrants, who he said were “poisoning the blood of the country,” or Harris, whom he often mocked as unintelligent.
Despite the legal problems and controversies, Trump is the second former president to win a second term after leaving the White House. The first was Grover Cleveland, who served two four-year terms beginning in 1885 and 1893.
An unprecedented campaign
Two months after Trump was convicted in the illicit money case, a would-be assassin’s bullet struck his right ear during a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania, exacerbating concerns about political violence.
Another assassination attempt was thwarted in September at his golf course in Florida. Trump blamed both attempts on what he claimed was heated rhetoric from Democrats including Harris.
Just eight days after the shooting in July, Biden, 81, dropped out of the presidential race, finally giving in to weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats after a poor performance during his debate with Trump, raising questions about his mental acuity and reelection potential. .
Biden’s decision to step down has turned the contest into a sprint, with Harris scrambling to launch her own campaign in a matter of weeks, rather than the usual months.
Her rise to the top of the ticket reinvigorated desperate Democrats, raising more than $1 billion in less than three months while erasing what had been a strong Trump lead in the polls.
Harris’s financial advantage was partly countered by the intervention of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who pumped more than $100 million into a super PAC to mobilize Trump voters and used his social media site X to amplify pro-Trump messages.
As the campaign neared its end, Harris increasingly focused on warning Americans about the dangers of Trump’s reelection and offered an olive branch to disaffected Republicans.
It highlighted statements by several former Trump officials, including his former chief of staff and retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, who called Trump a “fascist.”
Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University who studies voter behavior and partisan politics, said a Trump victory would widen the cracks in American society, given his false claims of election fraud, anti-immigrant rhetoric and demonization of his political opponents.