WASHINGTON: Republican Donald Trump has won the US presidential race, US media announced Wednesday, beating Kamala Harris to complete a stunning political comeback.
Trump’s win was called by multiple television networks. It returns him to the White House following a long, campaign.
CBS, the BBC’s US partner, is also projecting that another swing state has gone to Trump – Wisconsin – meaning he has 276 electoral college votes, over 270 needed to win the overall election.
As a result, Donald Trump is now projected to have won the race and will re-enter the White House as America’s 47th president, according to US media.
Earlier, Donald Trump claimed victory and vowed to “heal” the country Wednesday as results put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a superb White House comeback.
However, his exuberant speech came despite the fact that only Fox News had declared the former President the winner, with no other American networks having made the call so far.
Trump has claimed that he has ‘a magnificent victory, adding this will be the “golden age” of America.
He said, “This is a magnificent victory for the people of America, that will permit us to make America great again,” he says, using his campaign slogan and catchphrase.
Trump has declared win, although he has not yet obtained the official required electoral college votes, BBC reported.
He thanks his wife Melania, calling her the First Lady. He lauded her book, adding she has “the number one best seller in the country”. Trump also thanks his “amazing children,” naming each of them as they stand on main stage with him.
"This will truly be the golden age of America."
Donald Trump delivers his first message to the American people after Fox News projects him winning the presidency. pic.twitter.com/Idq1E27l5f
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 6, 2024
Trump Calls Musk as ‘New Star’
Following some chants from the crowd, Donald Trump starts speaking regarding someone who’s become a major part of his election campaign – X owner and the world’s richest person Elon Musk.
Trump describes Musk as a “new star” of the Republican Party, before going on to tell a lengthy story regarding how he once left the billionaire on hold for about 40 minutes while he also watched a video of a SpaceX rocket. The former President describes Musk as a “wonderful” guy.
World Reacts Over US Elections
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday felicitated “President Donald Trump”, adding he was ready to work with the US vote frontrunner “with respect ” like “we managed to do for four years”.
In a post on social media X, Macron stated that the relationship with Trump, who is leading the US presidential vote, would “take account of your convictions, and mine”, adding: “For more peace and prosperity.”
Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 6, 2024
China and US Elections
Beijing said Wednesday that it expressed hope for “peaceful coexistence” with the US as Donald Trump neared a decisive win over Kamala Harris in the country’s presidential polls.
“We will continue to approach and handle China-US ties based on the principles of mutual respect, as well as peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press briefing.
“Our policy toward Washington has been consistent,” she said.
The spokesperson did not comment directly on the possibility of Trump’s re-election, but stated “the US presidential election is a domestic affair of the US”.
NATO and Trump
NATO chief Mark Rutte also congratulated Donald Trump for winning the US presidential polls and said his return to power will help keep the alliance “strong”.
“His leadership will also again be key to keeping our Alliance strong. I also look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through alliance,” Rutte stated.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also congratulated Trump for a “historic election win” Wednesday, saying that he was looking forward to working with the vote frontrunner.
Donald Trump, who is projected to win the presidential race, was addressing his supporters at his campaign headquarters in Florida.
Fox News has declared Trump the winner of the US presidential race early Wednesday — the only network to make the call.
In a further blow to Democrats, Trump’s Party also took control of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.
Americans faced a long night of agonizing suspense Tuesday as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s historically close race for the White House went down to the wire.
Republican former president Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are battling it out for the White House, with polls slowly closing across the US Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results expected.
Projections are tumbling in, with US media calling wins for Donald Trump so far in various states including big prizes Ohio and Texas. The Vice President has so far captured many states including big electoral vote prizes New York and California– as well as Washington. So far, that gives Trump 276 electoral votes and Harris 224, CNN, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC, CBS and AFP reported.
The magic number to claim the presidency is 270. Analysts expect the hotly contested elections for the White House to come down to a handful of key battlefield states.
A final result could still take several hours or even days to materialize if the margins in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and the other swing states come down to a few thousand votes at a time. Millions of voters in the US lined up throughout Election Day — and many voted early to elect the new President. The anxiously awaited result will either make Kamala Harris the first woman in the world’s most powerful office or hand a historic comeback to Donald Trump.
The race between Democratic Vice President Harris, 60, and Republican former President Trump, 78, has been one of the tightest and most volatile in modern times, with the candidates locked in a dead heat.
Both the candidates had spent their final day of the election campaign frenetically working to get their supporters out to the polls and courting any last undecided voters in the swing states expected to decide the outcome.
Polling stations opened across the nation amid an air of tension and uncertainty. In key battleground states, voters lined up before dawn to cast ballots, joining the 83 million Americans who already voted early, AFP reported. Long lines were reported in areas like Black Mountain, North Carolina, where a makeshift tent served as a polling station after severe flooding, and Erie, Pennsylvania, a critical swing area.
“We’re so divided right now, and she’s about peace,” said Marchelle Beason, 46, told AFP after voting for Harris. Across the aisle, Trump supporter Darlene Taylor, 56, voiced her concerns about inflation and immigration, saying, “We don’t need another four years of high prices and broken promises.”
The race’s closeness has defied expectations, even with unprecedented events shaping the campaign. Harris entered the contest in July after President Joe Biden dropped out, while Trump, despite a criminal conviction and surviving two assassination attempts, has maintained strong support.
Control of Congress is also at stake, with all 435 seats of the House of Representatives and 34 of the Senate’s 100 seats up for grabs. The outcome of the presidential election may not be immediately clear, with close results potentially delaying final counts for days.
Security has been placed on high, with barriers set up around the White House, and concerns of possible unrest if Trump loses and disputes the result, AFP reported.
Internationally, the world is closely watching the election. Trump’s return could shift US foreign policy toward an “America First” stance, raising fears of instability among allies in Europe and NATO. His positions on immigration, climate change—which he calls a “hoax”—and Middle East conflict stand in contrast to Harris, who has emphasized collaboration and domestic unity.
Harris spent her final campaign day rallying in must-win Pennsylvania, calling for voters to “make history.” She has focused on her opposition to Trump-backed abortion restrictions, aiming to mobilize women voters.
Trump, in his closing rally in Michigan, described his vision for the country in stark terms, casting himself as the only one capable of reversing what he described as America’s decline.
Harris concluded her weeks-long run of appearances by reflecting on a drive she says “brought together people from all corners of the US, and all walks of life”.
The vice president went on: “Ours is not a fight against nothing, but for something… Tonight we end as we initiated: with optimism, energy, joy.”
She also made a familiar appeal to young voters, saying. “To you in particular I say I see your power and I am so proud of you.”
Election Day is here. Today, we vote because we love our country and we believe in the promise of America.
Make your voice heard: https://t.co/VbrfuqVy9P
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 5, 2024
BBC reported that Harris knows she will need young voters to back her in big numbers if she is to win elections.
With polls suggesting a dead heat, the candidates have offered up harshly different visions as they spent their final day of campaigning in the too-close-to-call swing states that are set to tip the balance following polls close on Tuesday.
Both opponents even held loud events at the same time in Pittsburgh, a major city in the must-win battlefield of Pennsylvania, as the historical race went down to the wire.
“Tuesday is election day, and the momentum is on our side,” Kamala Harris stated, just before singer Katy Perry took to the centre stage.
It is now officially ELECTION DAY! This will be the most important day in American History.
Voter enthusiasm is THROUGH THE ROOF because people want to Make America Great Again. That means lines are going to be long!
I need you to deliver your vote no matter how long it takes.…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2024
Donald Trump, who brought his family members up on the main stage in the city, stuck to his darker rhetoric, adding Kamala Harris was “a disaster.”
“We do not have to settle for incompetence, weakness, decay and decline. With your vote on Tuesday, we can fix every single issue our nation faces,” Trump stated.
The former President held rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania ahead of a major finale in Grand Rapids, Michigan — the same area where he had closed his 2016 and 2020 election campaigns.
Celebrities and US Elections
Superstar Taylor Swift, one of a series of celebrity endorsements for Kamala Harris, posted to her 283 million followers an “extremely significant reminder” that Tuesday is the last chance to vote.
Joe Rogan, the prominent host also announced on Monday that he was endorsing Donald Trump, days following the ex-president appeared on his show.
Both candidates expressed hope their clashing messages would boost turnout among their followers and supporters and win over any remaining potential voters.
Speaking earlier in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump also pursued his apocalyptic vision of a US in decline and overwhelmed by unlawful immigrants, whom he described as “animals and savages”.
Harris also hit home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans across the country — one of her key vote-winning positions but took a cheerful, safe note.
With Trump, being the oldest major political party nominee ever to run for US president office, Harris played on the need for change.
“Americans are ready for a fresh start,” she said in Pittsburgh. “It is time for a new generation of leadership in the country.”
High Tension and US Elections
The former President has pressed home on voter concerns regarding the economy and unlawful migration while his harsh rhetoric is juice to his right-wing supporters. Trump’s message struck home for first-time voter Ethan Wells, a 19-year-old cook in Michigan.
President Biden “let a lot of illegals in, and they have been murdering our own people,” he told AFP. “When Donald Trump was president, no person messed with America.”
Harris, faced enormous challenges and issues on being catapulted into the race only in July following Joe Biden abruptly dropping out.
However, Vice President Harris has galvanized the Democratic Party and stirred excitement among young voters as well as women following nearly a decade of political headlines dominated by Donald Trump.
“It is kind of mind-boggling that the race is too close, as he’s a convicted felon, the way he talks to women… the tariffs, everything”, said Trish Kilby, at Harris’s Philadelphia election rally. ” Harris is more regarding bringing the people together, whereas all he cares regarding is his top one percent.”
AFP reported that the most immediate fear is that American democracy will buckle if Trump loses but declines to accept defeat like he did four years ago when his supporters attacked the US Capitol.
With Donald Trump having narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July and police officials foiling a second plot, the fears of violence are actual, according to AFP.
In Washington, increasing numbers of businesses and office compounds are being boarded up in case of political unrest.
