Former President Donald Trump has clinched enough electoral votes to win the White House, The Associated Press declared on Wednesday, making him the first U.S. president to win a non-consecutive term since Grover Cleveland in 1892, the oldest person ever elected president and the first person convicted of a felony to win the office.
Battleground Wisconsin, one of the three "blue wall" states that previously reliably voted for Democrats, put Trump over the top early Wednesday morning with its 10 electoral votes.
Running on a campaign largely fueled by criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration and economic policies — as well as personal grievances and vows of revenge against his political foes in the wake of his multiple criminal indictments — the 45th president, and soon-to-be 47th, overcame a challenge from Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic nominee this summer.
After Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state in the country, put him on the cusp of clinching the 270 electoral votes needed to win back the White House, Trump declared victory.
“There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond,” Trump, addressing a jovial crowd of supporters at his election night party in Florida, said of his political movement. “And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance, because we’re going to help our country heal."
“We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly,” he added. “We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country. We made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that.”
Trump's victory completes an improbable comeback after his loss to Biden in 2020 and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters stormed the building to try to disrupt the certification of the Democrat's win. In the four years after his electoral loss, Trump was charged with dozens of felonies across four separate criminal proceedings -- and was found guilty on 34 of them, with a sentencing hearing expected at the end of the month -- in addition to other legal woes, such as being found liable of sexual abuse and defamation to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in civil penalties.
Trump's win caps an election unlike any other, which saw two unsuccessful assassination attempts against the former president, as well as an unprecedented swap of which Democrat the Republican would be facing on Election Day.
In his speech early Wednesday, Trump urged all Americans to “unite” behind his presidency and called to heal divisions — a curious proposition from a candidate who espoused personal grievances and made vows of revenge against his political foes on the campaign trail.
“Nothing will stop me from keeping my word to you, the people,” he said. “We will make America safe, strong, prosperous, powerful, and free again. And I’m asking every citizen all across our land to join me in this noble and righteous endeavor. That’s what it is.”
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” Trump added. “It’s time to unite. And we’re going to try. We’re going to try. We have to try. And it’s going to happen. Success will bring us together.”
Some of Trump’s proposals include imposing broad tariffs on every import entering the United States and carrying out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history on undocumented immigrants in the country. He has also vowed to settle the war between Russia and Ukraine as part of a vague pledge to “prevent World War III,” and made promises about transgender athletes not participating in women’s sports and defunding schools that have vaccine or mask mandates.
Trump vowed to govern with a “simple motto,” one that dates back to his first term: “Promises made, promises kept.”
The AP also projected that Republicans will control the U.S. Senate, wresting the chamber from Democratic control, giving Trump extra support to enact his agenda through Congress. It's unclear who will control the House of Representatives.
Citing those GOP victories in the U.S. Senate — with the House still up in the air — Trump said that the country has given him “an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
Throughout the campaign against Harris, Trump hammered the vice president over immigration, baselessly blasting her as the Biden administration’s “border czar” (though that wasn’t her role) and laying the blame for crime caused by migrants at her feet, despite illegal border crossings hitting record lows in recent months. He also pointed the finger at her for the cost of consumer products, despite inflation falling consistently over the last several months.
While not as broad as the bipartisan coalition that Harris touted in her campaign, the former president has turned to two former Democrats — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and ex-Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — and other figures, like conservative personality Tucker Carlson and billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in his successful effort to win another White House term.
At 78, Trump — a former businessman and reality television star — is the oldest president ever elected to serve the nation's highest office. He and his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, have one child, and he has four adult children from two previous marriages.
This is a developing story. Check back later for further updates.