In the early hours of this Wednesday, Donald John Trump, 78, claimed the necessary votes to become the new president of the United States for the 2025-2029 term and be the first politician since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win in non-consecutive terms.
After winning in the key states of Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, The Associated Press and other media outlets such as CNN, NBC News, and The New York Times declared him the winner in Wisconsin. With that, he reached 277 electoral votes and surpassed the 270 threshold required to win the presidency.
The Republican is also ahead of Kamala Harris in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and is expected to win in Alaska as well, so his number of electoral votes will increase. The vice president only had 224 electoral votes in a disappointing election day for the currently governing Democratic Party.
Trump's victory, marked by a campaign full of accusations and disqualifications, occurred much faster than expected, as closer battles and a slower count were expected in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
What did Trump say about his presidential victory?
Addressing his supporters from his campaign party in Florida early Wednesday, and before it was known that he had surpassed the 270 electoral votes mark, Trump said, "every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future."
The Republican leader added that he was going to make people feel "very happy" and "very proud" of their vote.
"We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very urgently," he added. "We are going to fix our borders. We are going to fix everything in our country."
The Trump campaign bet that it would reduce the traditional advantage of Democrats with black and Latino voters, with the former president participating in podcasts focused on men and making explicit racial appeals to both groups. Nationally, black and Latino voters seemed slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Joe Biden four years ago, and Trump’s support among those voters appeared to have slightly increased compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast.