Donald J. Trump has just won the 2024 election. President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025, following the Electoral College decision on January 6, 2025.
The former president’s victory was the highlight of a significant night for the Republicans, who were also projected to regain control of the Senate after four years in the minority.
The fate of the House of Representatives remained uncertain early on Wednesday, with the final majority likely to take several days to determine.
In an unsettling echo of Election Night 2016, thousands of Harris supporters gathered on the campus of the vice president’s alma mater, Howard University, to watch the results. Many were left shocked and in tears as it became clear their candidate could not secure victory.
In the end, it was not Harris herself but her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, who had to break the news to the disappointed crowd that the Democratic nominee would not be making an appearance.
“We still have votes to count… so you won’t hear from the vice president tonight,” said Richmond, a former congressman from Louisiana and a former Biden White House official. “She will be back here tomorrow.”
“Go HU and go Harris.”
The 45th president had shown supreme confidence in the final days of the race against Harris, 60, targeting his messaging at male voters and maintaining a relentless schedule of rallies and media appearances — including a visit to a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Harris had downplayed both her chance to make history as the first female president and her heritage as the child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
Instead, she positioned herself as a pro-small-business champion for the middle class, distancing herself from several progressive positions she had once advocated as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, and a senator from California.
Trump’s victory makes him only the second president to be elected to non-consecutive terms, joining Democrat Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd president in 1884 and the 24th president in 1892, with Republican Benjamin Harrison of Indiana in office in between.
The race was widely considered a toss-up up to Election Day, as representatives from both campaigns made rhetorical missteps that attracted considerable media attention.