Donald Trump has won the U.S. presidential election, becoming only the second U.S. president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms in office and the first convicted felon to win the White House.
The Associated Press called the race for Trump around 5:30 a.m. ET after he won the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, securing 277 electoral college votes and thus clinching his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The AP call followed those by Fox News and Decision Desk HQ. Trump also triumphed in other key swing states, winning North Carolina earlier in the night and flipping Georgia, which President Joe Biden won in 2020.
Trump hailed his victory in a speech to supporters at Mar-a-Lago, his country club in Florida’s West Palm Beach, taking the stage just before 2:30 a.m. ET and declaring that he was at the helm of a “movement like nobody’s ever seen before.”
“Now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal,” he said.
“I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve, and that you deserve,” he added, boasting that he had also won the popular vote (as of 6 a.m. ET, Trump had won 51 percent of the popular vote, with nearly 71 million votes). Trump lost the popular vote in both 2020 and 2016.
He also referred to “certain networks,” including CNN and MSNBC, as “the enemy camp” before inviting Vice President-elect J.D. Vance to speak. “I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance said.
Trump then retook the mic to thank other key allies, including his family, campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, billionaire Elon Musk, and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White. “We have to put our country first for at least a period of time, we have to fix it because together we can truly make America great again for all Americans,” he concluded just before 3 a.m. ET. “I will not let you down. America’s future will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer, and stronger than it has ever been before.”
Harris canceled a planned appearance to speak earlier on Tuesday night at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington D.C. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has not publicly acknowledged Trump’s victory.
Republicans also retook control of the U.S. Senate; control of the House of Representatives remains up in the air.
This post is part of FP’s live coverage with global updates and analysis throughout the U.S. election. Follow along here.