By Ethan Cohen
Republican Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the United States, defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Winning the vital battleground states of Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania, Trump’s party secured an Electoral College victory with 277 votes, overcoming Harris’ 224. Remaining votes are still being counted.
When sworn into office in January, Trump will benefit from a Republican majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
The outcome, where polls between the candidates leading up to the election were razor-thin, showed Trump pushed over the edge by tens of thousands of votes.
The results come on the heels of a campaign marred with civil and criminal trials, including two assassination attempts against Trump, highlighting the volatility of the current political landscape.
Trump’s historic 2024 win is the first time a president will serve two non-consecutive terms in office in over a century. The last was Grover Cleveland, who was the 22nd and 24th president, in the late 19th century.
The president-elect stepped onto the stage at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida on Nov. 5 as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” played, greeted by a cheering crowd of jubilant supporters.
“We overcame obstacles that people never thought possible,” Trump said.
Trump then thanked the American people for electing him as the 47th president and highlighted the work he will do once he enters office.
“I will fight for you, your family and your future… every day I will be fighting with every breath in my body,” he said.
Trump later mentioned his election victory as “a win for democracy.”
Senator and Vice-President elect JD Vance took the stage briefly after Trump to celebrate his running mate’s electoral win.
“We just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance said.
He pointed toward the economic prosperity of the nation as one of the prime goals of Trump’s new administration.
Harris did not address supporters gathered at Howard University, her alma mater.
Instead, her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, briefly spoke to the crowd after midnight, noting that Harris would speak publicly on Wednesday.
“We still have votes to count,” Richmond said.
Trump will now preside over a nation divided in his second term as president, with issues such as the economy, immigration, reproductive rights and foreign policy at the forefront of his policy platform.
