Washington: Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday won the US presidency for a second term in one of the greatest political comebacks in American history, cruising past his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in a bitterly fought election.
The 78-year-old Republican leader cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency by securing a victory in the key battleground state of Wisconsin.
According to races called by the Associated Press up to 4 pm (IST), 277 electoral votes had gone to Republican candidate Trump and 224 to Democratic Party’s Harris.
Trump addressed his supporters at West Palm Beach in Florida, declaring victory and promising a “golden age of America”.
“This will be the golden age of America. America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump declared with his family by his side amid cheers of his jubilant supporters.
“This is a magnificent victory for the American people. This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond,” Trump said.
“And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal. We’ll help our country…we have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly,” he said.
“We are going to fix our borders. We are going to fix everything about our country. And we made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that we overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it is now clear that we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing.”
Trump also promised to usher in a “golden” period in the US.
“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” he said. “I will fight for you, for your family and your future.”
“Every single day, I will be fighting for you and with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America,” he added.
The victory by Trump is largely being seen as a remarkable comeback after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden which appeared to be the end of his political career.
Trump challenged the election results and even indirectly urged his supporters to march on the US Capitol that reportedly triggered the violent attacks and clashes inside the seat of American democracy sending shockwaves across the globe.
In the following months, Trump unsuccessfully challenged the results in court.
In effect, he became the first former president to get the nomination for the top office on the planet after being convicted of a felony.
Trump won the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Counting of votes is still underway in some other battleground states of Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.
As a clear trend in the counting of votes emerged earlier, Harris cancelled an election watch party in her alma mater Howard University.
The results are a big disappointment for Harris. She joined the race after President Biden dropped out from his reelection campaign in July, weeks after he came under severe scrutiny following his incoherent performance at a televised debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The nomination itself was historic as she became the first woman of colour in the US to be fielded by a major party in the presidential race.
In her address after formally accepting the nomination, Harris vowed to “chart a new way forward” far devoid of bitterness, cynicism and divisive politics.
The US has 50 states and most of them vote for the same party in every election except the swing states.
Generally, there is not much surprise over the candidates picking up victories in states other than the pivotal battleground ones. Overall, a total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs.
The swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, known as part of the Rust Belt, have been traditionally the strongholds of the Democratic Party.
Earlier, exit polls showed the state of democracy, the shape of the economy and abortion are the most important issues for American voters in the election.
Almost six in 10 people ranked the state of democracy as their number one issue, according to exit polls released by CBS News.
It was followed by abortion as five per cent of the voters felt it was an important issue for them. Over one in 10 chose the economy as a priority issue.
An exit poll by CNN said roughly three-quarters of the electorate holds a negative view of the way things are going in the US today.
Only about one-quarter call themselves enthusiastic or satisfied with the state of the nation, with more than four in 10 dissatisfied and roughly three in 10 saying they are angry, according to the poll.
Voters remain generally optimistic, with more than 6 in 10 saying that America’s best days are in the future, and only about one-third that they’re already in the past, the CNN poll found.
