The election could not be called going into polling day
The 2024 US presidential election has a winner, with Donald Trump claiming the keys to the Oval Office following a nail-biting campaign for both Republicans and Democrats.
It is projected he has won the swing state of Wisconsin and with that, he is now projected to have won the presidency.
Heading into polling day (5 November), nobody could call a winner with the final polls saying that the result could have gone either way with both Kamala Harris and Trump within the margins of error in the key swing states needed to win the race for the White House.
But as election night went on, it became pretty clear pretty soon that the former US president would be taking up the position once again.
Trump actually declared victory himself before it was officially called, telling supporters at his campaign’s watch party in Florida it had been the ‘greatest ever political movement’.
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The 47th president of the United States (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The former 45th and now 47th US president said it’s going to be the ‘golden age’ for America while also talking about Elon Musk being a ‘new star’ and promising Americans to ‘help our country heal’.
Joined on stage by JD Vance, Dana White, his wife Melania Trump, family and campaign staff, the Republican said he’s excited to ‘make America great again’.
“We have taken back control of the Senate,” he said. “Wow, that’s good.”
Trump called being president the ‘most important job in the world’ as he said he’ll run his government on the motto: “Promises made, promises kept.”
Our prime minister, Keir Starmer, congratulated Trump on the ‘historic election victory’ as he said he looks ‘forward to working with him in the years ahead’.
“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” he added.
“From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come.”
Millions cast their vote for this year’s 2024 presidential election (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Leading US polling forecaster, Nate Silver, published his final prediction heading into polling day, and out of 80,000 simulations run by him and his team, Harris won 40,012.
Both camps had been confident, with Trump’s team more vocal in the final week of campaigning while Harris’ team grew more and more optimistic as momentum seemed to grow ahead of the time to cast millions of ballots across the US.
Harris spent the final night of the campaign in Pennsylvania, a state both candidates desperately wanted to win in order to secure the presidency but was ultimately won by Trump.
But after voting closed, exit polls were released and results were verified, it was the Republican’s team that popped champagne corks as the final result looked more and more certain.
Featured Image Credit: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Getty /Chip Somodevilla / Getty
