Trump Wins 2024 Presidential Election

Election Night Victory

Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election on November 5, 2024, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in a decisive victory that swept all seven battleground states. Trump carried Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina, rebuilding and expanding the electoral coalition that had narrowly eluded him in 2020. He also won the national popular vote, the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since George W. Bush in 2004.

A Historic Comeback

Trump’s victory was without modern precedent. He became only the second president in American history to win non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland in 1892. He accomplished this despite being a convicted felon, having been found guilty on 34 counts in the New York hush money case just months earlier. He had survived two assassination attempts, faced four separate criminal indictments, and was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil trial. No candidate in American history had won the presidency while carrying such a weight of legal jeopardy.

How Trump Won

Analysts pointed to several factors behind Trump’s victory. He made significant gains among Latino voters, particularly in border communities. Working-class voters of all backgrounds shifted further toward Trump, driven by persistent frustration over inflation and the cost of living. Harris’s late entry into the race, while initially energizing, left her with limited time to define herself to voters beyond the Democratic base. Trump’s campaign also benefited from a massive spending advantage in the final weeks, fueled in part by unprecedented support from tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The Aftermath

Harris conceded the race on November 6, delivering a speech at Howard University urging her supporters not to give up the fight. Republicans also won control of the U.S. Senate and held the House of Representatives, giving Trump unified government control heading into his second term. Trump declared his victory a mandate for sweeping change and immediately began assembling a transition team heavy with loyalists, signaling a second term that would move faster and more aggressively than his first.