After a grueling election season, The Associated Press declared Donald J. Trump the 2024 Presidential Election winner at 5:34 a.m. EST on November 6th. His victory came upon his successful capture of key swing states—North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—bringing him to 277 electoral college votes, enough to secure his future position as the 47th President of the United States of America. After The Associated Press declared him the winner, Trump proceeded to win the remaining swing states—Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada—placing his projected electoral vote count at 291. In addition to winning the electoral college, 72,774,835 Americans voted for Trump, allowing him to win the popular vote.
Many Americans thought the 2024 election was going to be close. By election day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump were nearly tied in the national polls, Harris leading Trump 48.0% to 46.8%. However, the tone of Election Night was set with an early Trump win in Florida, a state President Joe Biden lost by a 3.4-point margin in 2020. Called at 8:01 p.m. EST., Trump won Florida by a margin of 13.1 points. Then, Harris experienced another early loss in Texas at 9:12 p.m. EST. While Biden lost the state by a 5.4-point margin in 2020, Harris lost Texas by a margin of 13.9 points. According to CBS News, this was the largest win for a Republican presidential candidate in the state since former President George W. Bush won it in 2004.
Over the past few months, both candidates have focused heavily on the seven key battleground states. All either candidate had to do to secure the presidency was either win the three Rust Belt states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—or secure the four Sun Belt states—Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina.
In the final week before election day, Harris and Trump were practically tied in the battleground states. ABC News Project 538 showed Harris and Trump tied in Nevada and Pennsylvania. Harris was narrowly leading 48% to 47% in Michigan and 48.3% to 47.3% in Wisconsin. Trump was leading 48.9% to 46.8% in Arizona and 48.3% to 47.4% in North Carolina.
Winning the Rust Belt states seemed like a clear path to victory for Harris. She had been hosting successful rallies in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Her DNC rally in Milwaukee garnered upwards of 18,000 attendees. On the other hand, Trump seemed most likely to flip the states of Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia while keeping North Carolina red.
In 2020, Biden was able to successfully win six out of the seven battleground states, only losing North Carolina by a 1.3-point margin. Comparatively, former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton lost six out of the seven swing states in 2016, only winning Nevada by a 2.4-point margin. Given Biden’s success in 2020, there was hope among Democrats that a repeat of 2016 would not happen for Harris. However, after wins in Florida and Texas, Trump won North Carolina at 11:18 p.m. EST. and narrowly won in Georgia at 12:58 a.m. EST on November 6th. These sequential victories ultimately led to an unprecedented loss for Harris in all seven swing states.
The margins Harris lost by in the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were narrow: 1.4, 2, and 0.9 points, respectively. While The Associated Press has not officially called the Arizona and Nevada races, as of November 7th, Trump is currently leading 52.3% to 46.3% in Arizona and 51.0% to 47.2% in Nevada.
Beyond the presidency, Democrats are facing hard losses in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. With the resignation of the former Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin in 2023 and vulnerable Senate seats up for grabs in states like Texas and Ohio, Democrats had been fighting tirelessly to take back the majority. After failing to flip Republican seats in Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas and losing Manchin’s seat, Democrats lost control of the Senate, which now stands 45-52.
As of November 7th, the House race has not been called. Currently, Republicans have gained 210 seats, whereas Democrats only have gained 196. To keep control of the House, Republicans only need eight more seats.
For many voters, especially women, abortion was a key issue. Ten states had ballot measures that would expand abortion rights, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Out of the ten states, Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota failed to pass measures that would have lifted abortion restrictions. However, voters in Arizona and Missouri garnered enough support to lift their states’ abortion bans, receiving 61.4% and 51.6% of votes, respectively. 74.1% of Maryland voters supported expanding the right to reproductive freedom. In New York, 61.8% of voters voted to pass Proposition 1, which expands equal protection under the law despite ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sex, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy. Ballot measures created to enshrine abortion rights into their state constitutions were also passed in Colorado, Montana, and Nevada.
In Saratoga County, New York, Republican Incumbent Senator James Tedisco secured his seat in the 44th District of the NY State Senate against Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi (D) by a 16.4-point margin. 113th District Democratic Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner won her re-election bid, beating Republican Jeremey Messina by a 9.4-point margin. 112th District Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R) also won her re-election bid against Joe Seeman (D) by an 18.2-point margin.
While Trump supporters are overjoyed by his win, others are fearful of a Trump Presidency. Trump has been clear he will carry out Agenda 47—the policies Trump plans to implement during his presidency—and worries about these plans as well as the implementation of Project 2025 weigh heavily on his opponents.
Donald J. Trump’s inauguration ceremony will take place on Monday, January 20, 2025.