Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest in an early projection that he had defeated his arch rival, Democrat presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
However, Harris is yet to concede defeat.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.” Trump said earlier today while addressing a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, flanked by his vice presidential running mate, Senator JD Vance, Republican leaders and members of Trump’s family.
However, Harris did not speak to her supporters, who had gathered at her alma mater Howard University. Her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, briefly addressed the crowd after midnight, saying Harris would speak publicly later today.
“We still have votes to count.” He said.
The former president was showing strength across broad swaths of the country, improving on his 2020 performance everywhere from rural areas to urban centers.
He told his ecstatic supporters at a campaign party in Florida that they would usher in “a new golden age for America”.
He needs just one more state to officially take him over the winning threshold of 270 electoral college votes, according to projections by the BBC’s US partner CBS. He would be the first former president to return to the White House in more than 130 years.
In more good news for Trump, his party is projected to win majority control of the Senate.
Republicans won a US Senate majority after flipping Democratic seats in West Virginia and Ohio. Neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Trump went into Election Day with a 50-50 chance of reclaiming the White House, a remarkable turnaround from Jan. 6, 2021, when many pundits pronounced his political career to be over.
That day, a mob of his supporters stormed Congress in a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump picked up more support from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020, according to exit polls from Edison.
Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, trailing Harris with 53 per cent but up 13 percentage points from 2020.
About 31 per cent of voters said the economy was their top issue, and they voted for Trump by a 79 per cent-to-20 per cent margin, according to exit polls. Some 45% of voters across the country said their family’s financial situation was worse off today than four years ago, and they favored Trump 80 per cent to 17 per cent.
