Donald Trump swept back into the White House on Wednesday as tens of millions of Americans looked past his criminal charges and divisive rhetoric to embrace a leader who, if he carries out his campaign promises, will test the limits of presidential power.
He is entering this election at 78, locked in after a polarizing and dizzying campaign marred by two attempts on his life and Kamala Harris' late entry into the race after President Joe Biden's surprise withdrawal.
In a concession speech at her alma mater Howard University on Wednesday afternoon, Harris tried to soothe voters who had hoped she would be the first woman to take over the White House.
"To all those who are watching, let's not lose heart. It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work," she said.
"This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves."
Harris said she called Trump to congratulate him and said she'd aid his transition. But she was far from embracing his vision for the country.
"While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign," she said, as some supporters in the crowd were in tears. "The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people."
Biden is set to address the nation on Thursday.
At the bottom line, Trump's landslide victory served to highlight how demoralized Americans have grown to feel about the economy, border security, and the country and its culture in general. They wanted change, even if the vehicle for change was a twice-impeached felon no longer the Washington outsider he presented himself as in his 2016 campaign.
Trump has said that he wants to have the power to dismiss civil servants he considers anti-Trump, and he has promised to unleash federal law enforcers to investigate or prosecute perceived enemies, including political rivals.
Trump and his incoming vice president, U.S. Senator JD Vance, will be sworn into office on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. He vowed roles in his administration to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a major Trump donor, and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The result defied polls that indicated a razor-close race ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Trump was victorious in at least five of the seven battleground states to propel him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, and he was ahead in the remaining two, Arizona and Nevada, where votes were still being tallied.
Trump was also on track to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush two decades ago.
His fellow Republicans captured the US Senate from Democrats and had expanded their thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the tally in that chamber may not be clear for several days with dozens of races still up in the air.
"It was a hell of a good day," said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader.
Unified Republican control on Capitol Hill would clear the way for major portions of Trump's legislative agenda, as it did in the first two years of his 2017-2021 presidency when Republicans whipped a major tax-cut bill through Congress that mainly benefited the wealthy.
"America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate," Trump said early Wednesday to a roaring crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida.
Major stock markets around the world rallied following Trump's victory, and the dollar was set for its biggest one-day jump since 2020.
OVERCOMING ODDS
Trump won election even though his approval ratings remained low throughout, along with four criminal indictments and a civil judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation. May: Trump became the first ex-president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money he paid to a porn star.
Trump's political career seemed to be over after he made false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in a failed attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat. His efforts to reverse his defeat resulted in two separate indictments, although all the criminal cases against him are expected to conclude after his victory.
Trump routed challengers within his party and then defeated Harris by exploiting voter anxieties over high prices and what Trump falsely claimed was a spike in crime resulting from illegal immigration.
Trump's victory will have significant implications on U.S. trade and climate change policies, Americans' taxes and immigration, and U.S. foreign policy, including in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called to congratulate Trump and talked about "the Iranian threat" and the need to cooperate for the security of Israel, Netanyahu's office said.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas hailed an end to "blind support" for Israel from the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed Trump's commitment to "peace through strength," while the Kremlin said it would wait and see if his victory could help end the war in Ukraine more quickly. Trump had said he could end the war in 24 hours but has not offered a detailed plan.
A trade war in which Trump's proposed tariffs may fuel an even hotter battle with China and American friends, his promises to cut corporate taxes and create a string of new cuts that could balloon U.S. debt, economists say.
A second Trump presidency will drive a deeper wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues like immigration, race, gender, and reproductive rights.
Trump pledged to initiate a program of mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally.
Hispanics, once a Democratic stronghold and lower-income households, battered by inflation, powered the victory. The votes among women, where Democrats gambled big four years ago, swelled. And his loyal base of rural, white and non-college-educated voters turned up in large numbers, Edison Research exit polls indicated.
Meanwhile, many Democratic-leaning voters seem to have stayed home this year. Votes cast in counties that supported Trump in 2020, and in which nearly all ballots have been tallied, grew by almost 2% this year, while votes cast in counties that supported Biden four years ago dropped almost 5%.
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