History was made early last Wednesday morning when Former President Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, becoming America’s 47th president.
The election was called by the Associated Press just after 5:30 a.m. EST when Trump was projected to win Wisconsin, putting him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. However, now President-elect Trump declared victory around 2:30 a.m. in Florida.
“This is a movement like nobody’s ever seen before and, frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,” Trump said.
This election marks a historic comeback for Trump after losing the 2020 election, being found guilty of 34 felony counts and surviving an assassination attempt. Trump also won the popular vote, getting just over 73 million votes, which is the first time the now president-elect has ever won the popular vote in his three presidential campaigns. This was also the first time a Republican candidate has won the popular vote since 2004 when George W. Bush was elected for his second term. He is also the second president in history to win two nonconsecutive terms, the first being Grover Cleveland who won in 1885, lost in 1888 and then won again in 1892.
This election comes after polls had indicated a tight race with a narrow lead in favor of Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris in states like Michigan and Wisconsin. However, election night proved these polls incorrect with Trump not only winning the popular vote, but also winning in all seven of the key swing states: Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
“This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again, and in addition to having won the battleground states of North Carolina, I love these places, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, we are now winning in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska, which would result in us carrying at least 315 electoral votes,” Trump said during his victory address shortly after winning Pennsylvania.
Not only did the Republican Party win the presidential election, they also won big in Congress. The Republicans took four Senate seats from the Democrats, giving Republicans a majority there. Republicans also gained two seats in the House, and the determining factor for whether they will control both chambers of Congress will be the seats still being decided. The Associated Press reports that Republicans hold a small majority in the remaining races.
Republican Senator Mike Braun defeated Democratic candidate Jennifer McCormick in the Indiana gubernatorial race, with Braun securing just over 54% of Hoosiers’ votes. One U.S. Senate seat was up for grabs in Indiana, which Republican Jim Banks won, defeating Democrat Valerie McCray. All nine U.S. House of Representative seats were up for election with Republicans winning seven of them, according to the Indiana Election Division, with Democratic incumbents Frank J. Mrvan and André Carson winning the first and seventh districts, respectively.
Republican incumbents Rudy Yakym, Jim Baird and Victoria Spartz all won reelection in the second, fourth and fifth districts. Republican Marlin Stutzman defeated Democrat Kiley Adolph to win the third district, securing 65% of the vote. Republican Jefferson Shreve, who campaigned for and lost the Indianapolis mayoral election in 2023, won the sixth district election and secured just short of 64% of votes. Incumbent Republican Todd Rokita defeated Democrat Destiny Wells to win his second term as attorney general, winning over 58% of the votes.
