Former President Donald Trump will return to the White House in January, major media sources declared this morning.
Early on Wednesday, November 6, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and other media outlets projected Trump, a Republican, as the winner. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, experts say Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, have accumulated 277 electoral votes. (See map, below.) A candidate needs to secure at least 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency. There are 538 total electoral votes.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have accumulated 224 electoral votes. Five states remained too close to call.
Trump is set to become the nation’s 47th president when he takes the oath of office on January 20. He’s only the second president to win two nonconsecutive terms in the White House. Grover Cleveland was the first, winning reelection in 1892.
“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” Trump said in his victory speech early Wednesday. “I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.”
About 137 million Americans voted, according to early reports. That is about 20 million fewer than in the 2020 presidential election.
In the popular vote, Trump has received more than 71 million votes as of early Wednesday morning. Harris has received more than 66 million votes.
Trump has vowed to broaden the power of the presidency, crack down on illegal immigration, expand his 2017 tax cuts, and impose high tariffs on most goods manufactured abroad.
Experts say Trump’s victory points to the dissatisfaction many Americans feel about the state of the world and the nation. The economy and immigration were two of the biggest issues in the campaign. Trump has vowed to address both, though he’ll likely need the help of Congress to get much done. It remains to be seen whether he can unite Americans behind his plans.
“It’s very hard for presidents to unify the country and really build a base of support . . . partly because they’re not winning by big margins anymore,” says Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Presidents just have to march on and try to do the best they can despite that.”