WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump was on Wednesday morning predicted by the Associated Press that she won enough Electoral College votes to win the presidency.
First ever convicted Trump, elected to the Oval Office, had won four of the seven key swing states by 8 a.m. EST where he and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris had spent most of their time campaigning through 2024.
North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted for Trump, giving him 277 Electoral College votes compared to 224 for Harris.
Still without a winner, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona have not been announced. But even without them, Trump — who will be the nation’s 47th and 45th presidents — had more than enough of the 270 votes required to win the Electoral College.
Trump continues to face election tampering charges related to his actions in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
GOP Senate
Republicans also took control of the U.S. Senate, guaranteeing Trump a relatively polished path to confirming his judicial and Cabinet nominees in the coming months.
As of Wednesday morning, Republicans had won 52 Senate seats and Democrats had 42, according to the AP.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a longtime centrist Democrat considered his party’s most vulnerable senator in 2024, was thrown out by Republican Tim Sheehy in a high-profile race called by the AP on Wednesday morning.
Control of the U.S. House of Representatives has not yet been announced, but Republicans held a 198-180 lead there as of Wednesday morning.
If they retain control of the chamber, it would create an unusual Republican trifecta in Washington that could likely advance legislation on taxes, debt, reproductive rights and immigration.
Harris is expected to address the nation on Wednesday, her campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond told a crowd Tuesday evening at an election observation event at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.
All results are unofficial until local election offices nationwide check and certify result in the coming days and weeks.
Trump’s legal problems
Trump’s long presidential campaign was interrupted by a tight legal schedule that still included two federal cases currentand cases in Georgia and New York. The former president was convicted in New York in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. His sentencing is scheduled for November 26.
His lengthy appeal of the government’s 2020 election overturning charges ultimately resulted in a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court when the conservative majority ruled that former presidents enjoy criminal immunity for core constitutional duties and assume immunity for duties outside the office, but none for personal actions.
After the election overturn case was returned to a lower court, U.S. Special Attorney Jack Smith presented modern evidence highlighting that Trump planned to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election personally, acting with his private lawyers. Trump has repeatedly made it clear that if elected to another president, he would remove Smith.
Trump’s refusal to award President Joe Biden the 2020 presidential contest ultimately culminated in his supporters’ violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Speaking to supporters earlier Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, alongside his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump thanked the “thousands of friends participating in this incredible movement unlike anything anyone has seen before.”
“Honestly, it was, in my opinion, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country,” Trump said.
Trump promised to “heal” the country and that his second presidency “will truly be America’s golden age.”
“We have overcome obstacles that no one thought were possible,” Trump said.
Rollercoaster race
Trump spent much of his re-election campaign against President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race in the summer after a disastrous debate performance.
This required Trump’s team to switch to a modern campaign with a candidate Trump had never faced – Harris.
Harris, who has marketed herself as an underdog, has tried to position herself as a modern generation of leaders and offer a modern chapter for Americans through her policy plans on housing, health care and the economy.
She strongly cited her support for reproductive rights and the threat to democracy that a second Trump presidency will bring, citing the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Ultimately, Trump’s core campaign issues, such as immigration and criticism of the economy, seemed to sway voters, and she failed to capture any of the swing state votes that would have put her on the path to victory.
As it became clear tardy Tuesday that she was losing support in the key states that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, thousands of her supporters who had gathered at Howard University for a watch party left her in waves while her chances of victory were still decreasing.
Ashley Murray contributed to this report.
This report will be updated.
Last updated: 8:55 AM, November 6, 2024
