Donald Trump has been projected the winner of the 2024 presidential race, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. For Trump, it marks his largest Electoral College win, defeating Harris 312-226. Trump overperformed virtually everywhere, winning all seven battleground states while his numbers among major voting demographics surged.
Trump also appears to be on track to narrowly win the popular vote, which would mark the first time a Republican won the popular vote since 2004.
Trump’s win marks a major political comeback. Following his defeat in 2020, Trump was indicted in four separate states for various crimes and survived two assassination attempts.
Trump’s win also marks a repudiation of the Biden-Harris administration, which has struggled with low approval ratings and poor public perception of the economy.
Harris on the other hand, failed to overperform President Biden’s 2020 numbers in a single state as Democratic turnout declined from 2020.
On Wednesday afternoon, Harris called Trump to concede and gave her concession speech in Washington, DC.
In Trump’s victory speech, he pledged his term will be, “the golden age of America.” He said the victory has, “given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
Trump becomes just the second president in American history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, will be the first convicted criminal to ever serve as president, and the oldest president in U.S. history when inaugurated. Republicans are projected to flip control of the United States Senate. Democrats, who have held the Senate majority since 2021, were facing an uphill battle to maintain their slim 51-49 majority. Republican gains in Montana, West Virginia, Ohio and an unexpected gain in Pennsylvania ascended them to the majority.
Starting in January, Republicans will have a 53-47 majority, handing Trump the votes he needs to pass conservative agenda items, confirm his Cabinet and appoint conservative judges to the courts.
However, Democrats still hold their majority until January, and are now working rapidly to confirm more liberal judges to courts across the United States with hopes of protecting abortion access and other liberal agenda items. At least 31 Biden- nominated judges are awaiting confirmation and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said, “we are going to get as many done as we can.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican who has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1985, has announced he will not seek the position of Majority Leader, opening up one of the most powerful positions in Washington, DC.
Trump has reportedly asked Florida Senator Marco Rubio to be his Secretary of State, which would shrink the Republican majority from 53 to 52 until a special election in Florida fills his place.
Republicans are also projected to hold onto the majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House, made up of 435 members, requires a party to win 218 seats to win the House majority. As of the time this article was written, Republicans have been projected to win 219 seats to Democrats’ 210 with six seats too close to call, according to Decision Desk HQ.
As Republicans hope to expand their current majority of 220 seats, to Democrats’ 212, Donald Trump is reportedly looking into appointing at least five House Republicans to his new administration, a move that could shrink Republicans already slim majority even lower.
Two Republicans, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, have already accepted positions in the incoming administration, shrinking the already projected slim Republican majority two votes smaller.
These vacancies will force special elections in the districts where Republicans like Stefanik and Waltz were previously elected, and Democrats are hoping to beat the odds and potentially flip one or more of the open seats. Since “Roe v. Wade” was overturned, Democrats have overperformed in special elections like the ones that will take place in these districts.
Republicans have battled conflict within their own party since they took control of the House in 2023, including ousting a Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, for the first time in history and having the least productive Congress in the past 100 years.
Now, some far-right Republicans, the group who is largely responsible for ousting McCarthy, are vowing to challenge Speaker Mike Johnson for his post, which could set up another battle for the House’s top post. In 2023, it took Republicans 15 rounds of voting to elect McCarthy as Speaker, the most since the Civil War.
Trump is widely expected to get involved in the race for House Speaker, as his agenda depends on a productive and united majority.
The races for state governor’s across America, unlike the races for the White House and Congress, had no real surprises. Democrat Josh Stein easily won the race for North Carolina governor over his opponent, Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson.
In the nation’s most competitive race for governor, in New Hamp- shire, Republican Kelly Ayotte comfortably defeated Democrat Joyce Craig. Ayotte had a slight lead in the polls going into Election Day, but overperformed the polls and won handily in the purple state. Republicans in down-ballot races rode Ayotte’s coattails to win both the State House and State Senate majorities.
In deep-blue Vermont, moderate Republican Governor Phil Scott won re-election once again. The Republican, who voted for both Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, was elected alongside progressive Senator Bernie Sanders in one of the nation’s most liberal states.
Republicans now hold 27 gover- norships nationwide while Democrats hold 23. With Ayotte’s election in New Hampshire, a record 13 women will be governors when she is sworn in early next year. This new record means there will be more female governors, both Republican and Democrat, than at anytime in American history.
Next year, New Jersey and Virginia will have elections for governor. New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy is term-limited and is not able to seek re-election, setting up a battle for the seat.
Murphy narrowly won re-election in 2021 over Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Republicans have been hoping to win New Jersey once again, and with Trump’s unexpected strength in New Jersey in 2024, Re- publicans could have a shot at flip- ping the state’s executive branch from blue to red.
