Donald Trump swept to an emphatic victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election, to seal a historic return to the White House as America’s 47th president. With some results still to be declared, Trump looked on course to win the popular vote too – a feat that has eluded every Republican candidate since 2004. Trump also becomes the first former president in 132 years to be returned to the White House after having previously lost a presidential contest.
Speaking at a campaign event in Florida early on Wednesday morning, he said his victory would usher in a new “golden age” for the US. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he declared. In a further boost for the 78-year-old, the Republicans seized control of the Senate, and looked well-placed to retain their majority in the House of Representatives.
The result was first called by Fox News just before 2am Eastern Time, and world leaders were quick to congratulate the president-elect. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he called “history’s greatest comeback”; and Britain’s Keir Starmer said that he was looking forward to working with Trump to ensure that the “special relationship” prospers. President Zelenskyy, whom Trump has pressured to strike a deal with Vladimir Putin in order to end the war in Ukraine, also sent his congratulations. Markets reacted positively to Trump’s victory: the dollar was on track to record its biggest one-day rise since 2020 on Wednesday, and US stocks surged as traders bet on lower taxes and deregulation.
Pollsters had predicted that the race was going to be so close that its outcome could take days to emerge. But, in the event, it became apparent within a few hours of polls closing that Trump was on course to secure the 270 or more electoral votes he needed for victory. Exit polls indicated that more women had rallied behind Harris – who ran on a pledge to protect reproductive rights – than Trump; but perhaps not to the degree that they had supported Joe Biden in 2020. Trump, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid lead among white voters, and made significant gains among black and Latino voters (who have traditionally supported the Democrats in larger numbers) since the last presidential election. Analysts said that Trump’s efforts to court younger voters, and male ones in particular, via social media – by, for instance, appearing on Joe Rogan‘s podcast, which has 18 million subscribers – may have paid dividends.
Trump’s ‘supersized promises’
This extraordinary win marks “a political comeback for the ages”, said The Wall Street Journal. Trump had been “all but written off as a future candidate after the Capitol riot” on 6 January 2021; but Democrats “helped revive him” with their one-sided investigation into that day, and “partisan use of lawfare“. Over this campaign he not only retained the support of his Maga base, but also gathered a broader coalition that included young people and ethnic minorities. His “supersized promises” to carry out mass deportations of irregular migrants, to “drill baby drill” and to “end all wars” resonated with millions of Americans, said David Charter in The Times. The image of him, raising a defiant fist and shouting “fight, fight, fight” moments after the first of two attempts on his life, “summed up why so many Americans wanted him back”.
Harris’ campaign, by contrast, was a mess, said Tim Stanley in The Daily Telegraph. Joe Biden could point to economic successes, but all voters noticed was the soaring cost of living. Paired with his physical enfeeblement, this gave Americans a sense that their nation was on a “downward spiral”. The Democrats seemed incompetent, “distracted by woke“, incapable of bringing “peace in Ukraine or Israel; humiliated in Afghanistan”. Incumbent parties don’t win in those circumstances; and though Harris achieved a significant bounce after taking over from Biden, she “failed to follow through” with bold policies to address voters’ concerns. Instead, she tried to “waltz into the White House” on “vibes” and a pledge to “end the dramala”.
Trump will be much more dangerous in his second term than in his first, said Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker. He has vowed to “go after his opponents” once in office, and to pack federal institutions with loyalists who’ll pursue his “extreme and radical agenda”. He threatens to sow chaos abroad, by undermining Nato and pressuring Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. And all the while, he’ll be subject to less scrutiny from a Republican-controlled Senate, and a conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Harris warned that Trump had spent years trying to keep Americans divided and fearful of each other; but millions chose him regardless.
The next steps
Trump will take office on 20 January. He is expected to eschew Washington insiders when he fills his top team, in favour of unorthodox loyalists, the FT reports. Among those tipped for roles are Elon Musk, whom Trump has earmarked to head a new “efficiency commission” to audit government spending; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the anti-vaccine activist and onetime presidential hopeful, who is set to take up a role shaping health policy.
As the Democrat blame game began, party strategists said that Biden had damaged their party’s chances by staying in the race too long. Others said that Tim Walz had been a poor choice of running mate, who hadn’t improved Harris’ chances in swing states.