Donald Trump wins presidential election, marking a historic victory after 2020 loss

Former President Donald J. Trump made a surprising comeback to the White House by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 US general election, marking his return as the nation's 47th president. The historic victory comes after Trump's previous loss in 2020 and controversial legal battles—including four indictments and a conviction. At 78 years old, the former president will become the oldest president to take office, outpacing President Joe Biden's record from 2021.

President-elect Trump declared during his winning speech on election night, "We overcame obstacles that nobody ever thought we could," emphasizing his plans for America's future. “This will truly be the golden age of America.”

During election night, the former president maintained a strong lead and ultimately achieved an electoral college majority not long after midnight. His campaign focused on topics like inflation and fixing the current economy, solving the high influx of immigration and related crimes, and ending ongoing wars, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war.

As far as the topic of abortion—a pressing and divided issue in this race—president-elect Trump mentioned in a debate with Vice President Harris in September that he stands with keeping this power in the hands of states and would not support a national abortion ban. In states with strict abortion laws, he also favored exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is at risk.

Vice President Harris, who won Illinois and California to no surprise, widely ran her campaign on abortion rights and overall change, although it didn't prove to be enough. The Washington Post reported that she had a hard time distancing herself from President Biden, particularly after saying she didn't disagree with how the sitting president is currently running the country. Vice President Harris quickly replaced President Biden in the race after a debate in June, where the president performed unsuccessfully and lost the backing of the Democratic Party.

CBS News projected Trump winning important battleground states like North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which brought him up to 276 votes, just 6 more than the total electoral votes needed to win.

According to The Washington Post, the president-elect reclaimed at least three of the states he lost in the last election, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; Michigan, Arizona and Nevada remained too close to call early Wednesday. The Washington Post also notes that the newly elected president is on pace to win the national popular vote, depending on Vice President Harris’s final count in California. 

National polls by NBC News showed that 59% of white men made up the majority of Trump’s voters, but not by much; this was followed by 54% latino men, 52% white women, 45% of other races, 37% latino women, 20% black men, and 7% black women.

Exit polls by CBS News showed that 65% of voters believed the former president had stronger leadership abilities, and an overwhelming 73% of voters felt he was more conducive for bringing needed change to the current state of the nation; 69% of voters also rated the economy as bad. CBS News reported that while most voters wanted abortion to be legal, it was not a top issue compared to the economy and current state of democracy.

During election night, Vice President Harris’ headquarters—located at the historically black college Howard University where she attended school—fell silent hours before the presidency was called and she did not return to stage to give a speech to her supporters after securing 222 electoral votes.

According to The Washington Post, Vice President Harris recently announced she will address the nation and concede the presidential election to Donald Trump at 4 p.m. EST from Howard University.

President-elect Trump will be sworn into office on January 20th, the official presidential inauguration day as dictated by the US Constitution’s 20th Amendment.