Trump Wins 2024 Presidential Election

Former President Donald Trump has been elected to a second term in the White House, according to a race call by the Associated Press early Wednesday, completing a political comeback four years after his 2020 defeat. Trump, the Republican nominee, beat Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid in July. He becomes only the second president in U.S. history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland in the 19th century, and NPR noted that he is the first person convicted of a felony to win the presidency.

How the Race Was Decided

In the days before the vote, news outlets had anticipated a historically close race that could take days to call. Instead, the outcome became clear overnight as Trump carried the battleground states that both campaigns had treated as decisive. The AP called Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes for Trump in the early hours of Wednesday, a state Biden had won in 2020 and where advertising spending topped half a billion dollars, NPR reported. The race was called at about 5:30 a.m. Eastern time, when the AP projected Trump the winner in Wisconsin.

By Wednesday evening, Trump had 295 electoral votes to Harris's 226, according to NPR's tally of AP calls, well above the 270 needed to win. Arizona and Nevada had not yet been called. Results also suggested Trump was on track to win the national popular vote for the first time in his three campaigns.

Speaking to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, before the AP call, Trump claimed victory, saying, "America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate." He credited support from union workers, Black and Latino voters, and Asian American and Muslim voters, calling the result "a historic realignment," and pledged to focus on border and national security.

Republican strategists pointed to the economy. Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, told NPR that voters were focused on the cost of everyday goods, saying, "People think about inflation every single day when they're buying gas, when they're going to the grocery store."

Republicans Take the Senate

Republicans also won enough seats to take control of the U.S. Senate, which Democrats had held 51-49, giving the incoming administration an ally in the chamber that confirms cabinet nominees and federal judges. In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno defeated Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, and in Montana, Republican Tim Sheehy unseated three-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, NPR reported. Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas held seats that Democrats had hoped to flip. Control of the House of Representatives had not yet been determined.

Harris Concedes

Harris spoke with Trump by phone and then addressed supporters at Howard University in Washington, her alma mater, on Wednesday afternoon. "The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for," she said, according to NPR. She urged supporters to accept the result and pledged to help with a peaceful transfer of power, adding, "while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign."

The Trump campaign said the president-elect acknowledged Harris's "strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign." The White House said Biden also spoke with Trump, committed to a smooth transition and invited him to a meeting at the White House.

Global Reactions

Leaders abroad responded quickly. In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that he was "ready to work together as we did for four years," while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the transatlantic partnership. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump's "leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong," and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the result "a much-needed victory for the world." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on "history's greatest comeback." NPR noted that the warm messages came even as many European leaders were concerned about what a second Trump presidency would mean for the continent's future.

Update (January 16, 2025): Congress certified the results on January 6, 2025, with Harris presiding over the final Electoral College count of 312 votes for Trump and 226 for Harris. Official results compiled by the Federal Election Commission show Trump won 77,302,580 popular votes (49.80%) to Harris's 75,017,613 (48.32%).