Republican Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States after beating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the election to complete a stunning political comeback.
Trump, 78, is the first person to win two nonconsecutive presidential terms since the late 1800s and the first to ever hold the nation’s highest office as a convicted felon.
The victory was sealed when swing state Wisconsin and its 10 electoral college votes were called for Trump by the U.S. networks and the Associated Press just after 5:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, putting him over the necessary 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency.
It was among a haul of swing state victories projected for Trump, following wins in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Trump took Wisconsin for the second time in three elections after narrowly losing it to Joe Biden four years ago.
But this time, Biden bowed out of the running after a disastrous performance in a rare June debate, part of a remarkable election season in which Trump survived an assassination attempt.
In a result with worldwide reverberations, enough American voters overlooked Trump’s turbulent first time — he was twice impeached by the Democratic-led House, and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he promoted false claims of widespread voting fraud.
Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, celebrated their election night success after several battleground states were called for Trump, promising to lead ‘the greatest economic comeback in American history.’
Trump faced criminal indictments related to that post-election period, as well as a real estate fraud case in New York that led to a conviction earlier this year.
Trump’s improbable comeback carries implications at home and abroad, from the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, to the bargaining tables where America’s allies face tough conversations on defence spending and trade.
Canada risks being hit harder than most from Trump’s threat of a 10 per cent tariff on all imported products.