After scoring a string of victories in crucial swing states, Donald Trump was poised to return to the White House after a momentous presidential election in which democracy itself was at stake and likely to take the United States into uncharted political waters.
The Republican candidate surprisingly early captured North Carolina, the first battleground state declared, and later Georgia and then Pennsylvania. He was strongly positioned in Arizona and Nevada, other important games.
The race between Trump, a former president, and the current Democratic vice president, Kamala Harris, had been a tight contest and ultimately neared its end amid celebratory scenes in the Trump camp.
At 1:20 a.m. at Trump’s election watch party in Palm Beach, Florida, there was a long, almighty roar as Fox News called Pennsylvania for Trump. “It’s over!” a man shouted, amid the noise, at what seemed to be the point of no return. A young man wearing a black Trump hat shouted, “Fuck Joe Biden! Fuck her!”
The euphoric crowd chanted: “USA! USA!” They gathered near the stage and waited for Trump to speak.
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At 1:47 a.m., Fox named Trump president-elect, although the Associated Press – which follows the Guardian – has not yet put Trump across the finish line.
The man who incited the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and earned (and survived) a second impeachment; the man convicted this year of 34 criminal charges; the man who faces multiple other criminal charges and has been ordered to pay millions in multiple civil lawsuits, including one over a rape claim that was deemed “substantially true” by a judge. The man at the center of everything who senior military aides called a fascist and a danger to the republic was preparing to return to the White House.
Finally, after 2 a.m., Trump emerged to speak, to the tune of God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood’s anthem taped to Bibles Trump offers for sale. Trump was surrounded by his family, by close aides, and by JD Vance, the far-right senator from Ohio he made his vice presidential pick.
“This is a movement like no one has ever seen before,” Trump said. “I think this is the greatest political movement of all time. There has never been anything like this in this country and now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal.
“We are going to establish our boundaries. We are going to fix everything in our country…I will not rest until we deliver the strong, safe and prosperous America our children deserve, this will truly be America’s Golden Age.”
Trump relished the battleground state victories and said he would win them all. He claimed to have won the popular vote, which had not yet been decided. He described “a great feeling of love” and claimed “an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” celebrating the Republicans’ retake of the Senate. He said it appeared Republicans would retain control of the House of Representatives – again undecided at the time.
Trump greeted his wife Melania, his family and Vance, whom he invited to the stage to speak. Vance smeared the boss, promising “the greatest economic comeback in American history under Donald Trump.”
Trump referred to the assassination attempts against him. “God spared me for a reason,” he said.
At Harris’ watch party at Howard University in Washington, the mood turned somber as hopes that Harris would become the first president of a historically black college and university began to flicker and fade. Around 1 a.m., Cedric Richmond, a former congressman and co-chairman of the Harris campaign, told supporters they would not hear from Harris.
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“Thank you for believing in the promise of America,” Richmond said. “We still have to count votes. There are still states that have not yet been called. We will continue to fight from day to day to ensure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken.”
Those present ran outside and the mood turned to despair. Eight years after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in similar fashion, few attendees seemed surprised or shocked. Many declined to comment. “What else is there to say,” one woman shrugged as she shuffled out.
Littered water bottles and other trash were all that remained after the crowd cleared.
Before 1 a.m., Republicans had retaken the Senate. A seat in West Virginia turned red as expected, but the die was cast when Sherrod Brown, a long-serving progressive Democrat, was defeated in Ohio by Bernie Moreno, a car salesman backed by Trump. Democrats held the chamber 51-49. Other important races went well. In Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks was a bright spot for Democrats, joining Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware as the third and fourth black women ever elected to the Senate.
The House of Representatives remained contentious, as Democrats attempted to retake the Chamber and establish a bastion against a Republican White House and Senate. The House of Representatives can hold a president accountable, but the Senate controls federal judicial appointments. Further right-wing consolidation of control of the Supreme Court, where Trump appointed three hardliners between 2017 and 2021, is looming.
In June 2022, that Trump court struck down the federal right to abortion. Campaigns for reproductive rights have subsequently fueled Democratic electoral successes, but on Tuesday such issues appeared unable to fuel the wave of support from suburban, Republican-leaning female Democrats that Democrats had hoped for and experts had predicted.
A measure to enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution, which Democrats hoped would help boost turnout, fell short of the 60% needed for approval. Nebraska, won by Trump, voted to uphold its abortion ban, which bans the procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion-related measures have been passed in New York, Maryland, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and Arizona.
A huge gender gap emerged. A CNN exit poll showed Harris 11 points higher among female voters, and Trump 10 points higher among male voters. Other polls showed dominant concerns about the economy and democracy. According to the AP Votecast survey, four in 10 voters cited the economy and jobs as the most important issue facing the country, a hopeful sign for Trump. About half of voters cited the fate of democracy, a central issue in Harris’ campaign.
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Wednesday creates jitters in foreign capitals. The victory of Trump’s “America first” ethos can be expected to boost right-wing populists in Europe and elsewhere – and jeopardize support for Ukraine in the fight against Russian invaders.
At home, America is divided. Harris focused her campaign on the autocratic threat of Trump, while running a campaign fueled by resentment, both personal and the perception of an ailing America, baselessly portraying Biden and Harris as far-left figures who were destroying the economy with inflation and identity politics. Although he was the subject of two assassination attempts, in Pennsylvania and Florida, he caused great division and widespread fear of violence.
Trump told his supporters “I am your retaliation” and threatened to prosecute political enemies, journalists and others. He proposed turning the U.S. military against “the enemy within.” He put immigration and border security at the center of his pitch, painting a picture of the US overrun by illegal immigration, with language that veered into outright racism and fear-mongering. He called undocumented people ‘animals’ with ‘bad genes… who poison the blood of our country’.
He vowed to stage the largest deportation in US history, replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, and impose sweeping tariffs on allies and enemies alike.
On election night, he said he would govern “with a simple motto: promises made.” Promises kept. We are going to keep our promises. Nothing will stop me.”
Additional reporting by Sam Levine in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Hugo Lowell in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Asia Alexander in Washington DC
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