Donald Trump elected president of the United States
Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, the Associated Press reports, with voters overlooking his divisive speeches, felony conviction and three separate criminal indictments to send the Republican former president back to the White House.
The AP says he has reached the 270-electoral college vote threshold to return to office by winning Wisconsin.
The extraordinary victory will make the 78-year-old New York real estate magnate only the second former president in US history to win the White House after previously losing re-election.
He also becomes the oldest person ever elected to the presidency.
Trump was first elected in 2016, but lost his re-election bid to Joe Biden in 2020, when the Democrat was 77. Trump then spent weeks attempting to prevent his rival from taking office, culminating in the 6 January 2021 insurrection, which saw his supporters attack the US Capitol after Trump addressed them outside the White House.
In the years that followed, prosecutors at the federal level and in the states of Georgia and New York brought felony charges against him, and earlier this year, he was convicted in Manhattan on 34 counts of business fraud, while the other cases have stalled. He was also found liable in a civil court case of sexual abuse.
Trump is bound by term limits, and cannot seek re-election. The only other president to serve two non-consecutive terms was Democrat Grover Cleveland, who was in office from 1885 to 1889, and again from 1893 to 1897.
Key events
Victoria Bekiempis
Republican Tim Sheehy’s challenge for the Montana senate seat was considered a referendum on whether Democrats can win in largely rural states, which have moved to Donald Trump’s far-right brand of Republicanism.
The race prompted questions about whether grassroots campaigning – which historically has proved successful in Montana – is at all effective when news coverage and campaign spending have made local politics national.
Montana, which has a population of 1.1 million, saw $280m in campaign ad spending, according to the Associated Press.
Pennsylvania and Ohio, which saw $340m and about $500m in respective spending, have about 10 times the population of the western state, further underscoring its perceived importance to both political parties.
Republican Tim Sheehy defeats three-term Montana senator Jon Tester
Republican Tim Sheehy is projected to defeat three-term incumbent Montana senator Jon Tester, flipping a closely watched Senate seat and adding to the GOP’s newly won majority in the upper House.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, ran as a Donald Trump-supporting conservative in a state where he is immensely popular.
Tester – a moderate and the Senate’s only working farmer – was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats on the ballot nationwide. He was the only Democrat holding statewide office in Montana, which has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every contest since 1992.
The Guardian relies on the Associated Press to determine the outcomes of elections across the United States. The New York-based global news agency has a presence in every US state and a long and authoritative history of determining the winners of elections at the presidential, congressional and state level. Here is more information about their process.
You can keep track of the results from all 50 states as they come in here.
Canada’s Trudeau congratulates Trump on election win
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has congratulated Donald Trump in a post on X accompanied by a photograph of the two of them in the White House during Trump’s first term in office.
“The friendship between Canada and the US is the envy of the world,” Trudeau wrote. “I know President Trump and I will work together to create more opportunity, prosperity, and security for both of our nations.”
Congratulations to Donald Trump on being elected President of the United States.
The friendship between Canada and the U.S. is the envy of the world. I know President Trump and I will work together to create more opportunity, prosperity, and security for both of our nations. pic.twitter.com/yEnL6gxyzO
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 6, 2024
David Smith
Sometimes fear triumphs over hope. Donald Trump’s shocking victory in the 2016 US presidential election was described as a leap into the political unknown. This time there is no excuse. America knew that he was a convicted criminal, serial liar and racist demagogue who four years ago attempted to overthrow the government. It voted for him anyway.
The result is a catastrophe for the world. It saw Kamala Harris’s competence and expertise, her decency and grace, her potential to be the first female president in America’s 248-year history. It also saw Trump’s venality and vulgarity, his crass insults and crude populism, his dehumanisation of immigrants that echoed Adolf Hitler. And the world asked: how is this race even close?
But elections hold up a mirror to a nation and the nation does not always like what it sees.
Future historians will marvel at how Trump rose from the political dead. When he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, people gathered outside the White House to celebrate, brandishing signs that said, “Bon Voyage”, “Democracy wins!”, “You’re fired!”, “Trump is over” and “Loser”. There was a tone of finality, a sense that, after four gruelling years, this particular national nightmare was over.
But Trump could do no wrong in the eyes of his cult-like following, a freakishly resilient appeal that has three main components.
First, there is the celebrity and successful businessman persona, fashioned over years by his book The Art of the Deal and the reality TV show The Apprentice. Harris recruited numerous big-name endorsers such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé; Trump was star of his own show.
Second, Trump has understood that, whereas Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama resonated in an era of aspiration, this is an age of anxiety. The upper-working class and lower-middle class fear loss of status and yearn for a safety blanket. Young people worry they will be worse off than their parents’ generation and unable to buy homes. Many, wrongly, perceive Trump as an economic populist because he rails against elites and “says it like it is” or “speaks how they feel” or “doesn’t give a fuck”.
Third, there is Trump the culture warrior. For nearly a decade he has tapped into America’s id: a long and painful racial history of progress and backlash, stoked anew by the election of Obama and white Christians finding themselves in the minority. Xenophobia is at the heart of his political identity. In addition, his campaign spent millions on ads fuelling hysteria about transgender rights (“Kamala’s agenda is they/them, not you”).
Together, with a sinister assist from billionaire Elon Musk, it was enough to eke out victory.
International charity ActionAid has warned that Donald Trump’s re-election sends an “existential and dangerous threat to women and girls’ rights across the world”.
Hannah Bond, Co-CEO at ActionAid UK said on Wednesday:
Trump’s election poses an existential and dangerous threat to women and girls rights across the world and to global peace and security.
Millions in America will be waking up to a future where their reproductive rights and freedoms are fundamentally at risk, particularly the most marginalised people.
For women and girls facing crises across the world – whether in Gaza or in Ukraine – this is a devastating result that threatens global peace and security.
With leaders gathering at COP next week, Trump’s plans to pull out of the Paris agreement all but ends the hope of meaningful US climate action.
With the UK committed to ‘standing shoulder to shoulder’ with the new US administration, it must hold the US to account in the fight for gender equality.”
Helena Horton
An election that barely mentioned climate could end up being the most consequential for the planet in modern history. Donald Trump is expected to pull the US out of the Paris agreement, joining just three other countries, Iran, Libya and Yemen.
The agreement’s overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above preindustrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.” Those countries that signed up agreed to taper off their carbon emissions by the middle of this century to achieve this.
He is also expected to cancel many of Biden’s climate policies and, as he said, “drill, baby, drill”, turbocharging oil and gas production.
This will have dire consequences. CarbonBrief has estimated this will cause an additional 4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030 emitted from the US. This would negate twice over all of the savings from deploying wind, solar and other clean technologies around the world over the past five years.
Experts believe a second Trump presidency would end all hope of keeping global warming below 1.5C, the limit agreed by scientists which would avoid the worst impacts of climate breakdown. These include extreme, deadly weather events which can wipe out populations and cause mass deaths, as well as temperatures rising to make some parts of the world uninhabitable, as well as climate related severe disruptions to the food supply as fertile lands become desert.
It also has global impacts; when right wing parties falsely claim that lowering emissions and switching to a green economy is expensive, and the US is not participating in this effort, they can plausibly ask why other countries are doing that. This is likely to happen in the UK, where politicians are already falsely claiming the Labour government’s green policies will drive up energy bills and cause rationing. To be clear, this is utterly false, but it is a message that could take hold in difficult times if there is not a proactive effort to make the positive economic case for the green transition.
South Africa’s president Ramaphosa congratulates Trump on his election victory
Rachel Savage
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated Trump on his election victory.
In a post on X, Ramaphosa said he was looking forward to working closely with the US during South Africa’s G20 presidency next year. The US will succeed South Africa as president of the grouping, which includes 19 of the world’s biggest economies and the European and African unions.
Congratulations to United States President-Elect @realDonaldTrump on your return to the Presidency.
I look forward to continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations across all domains of our cooperation.
In the global arena, we look forward to… pic.twitter.com/HoQUQpp1gD
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 6, 2024
South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, deleted an earlier post on X, in which he said:
“I’ll leave it to my seniors but congratulations are in order for the president-elect….
Historically relations between South Africa & the US thrive under a Republican White House.”
Last year, the US ambassador to South Africa accused the country of providing arms to Russia, a claim South Africa’s government furiously denied.
Kamala Harris’s campaign was seen by many of her supporters, and others across the world, as having the potential of saving American democracy from an existential threat and a sign that US politics might be returning to a more normal state of affairs.
With a Donald Trump victory on Wednesday morning, that potential disappeared.
After the shock exit of Joe Biden following his disastrous debate performance raised questions about his mental acuity, Harris and her team ran a campaign that by American standards was incredibly short. Despite having had support by stars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, gathering more than a billion dollars in fundraising, and crisscrossing the country in relentless rallies, Harris’s bid to win the White House ended in defeat.
Here are some key moments, issues and events from the campaign:
The Kremlin reacted cautiously on Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected US president, saying the US was still a hostile state and that only time would tell if Trump’s rhetoric on ending the Ukraine war translated into reality, reports Reuters.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Trump had made some important statements about wanting to end the Ukraine war during his campaign, but only time would tell if they led to action.
“Let us not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country, which is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state [in Ukraine],” Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters.
Peskov said he was not aware of any plans by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to congratulate Trump on his victory and that relations with Washington were at an historic low.
Peskov said:
We have repeatedly said that the US is able to contribute to the end of this conflict. This cannot be done overnight, but … the US is capable of changing the trajectory of its foreign policy. Will this happen, and if so, how … we will see after [the US president’s inauguration in] January.”
Russian and US diplomats say relations between the world’s two largest nuclear powers have only been worse during the depths of the cold war. According to Reuters, Russian officials from Putin down said ahead of the election that it made no difference to Moscow who won the White House, even as Kremlin-guided state media coverage showed a preference for Trump.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow had no illusions about Trump, noting that there was what it called a bipartisan anti-Russian position among the US ruling elite designed to try to contain Russia.
“Russia will work with the new administration when it ‘takes up residence’ in the White House, fiercely defending Russian national interests and focusing on achieving all the set objectives of the special military operation (in Ukraine),” the ministry said. “Our conditions are unchanged and are well known in Washington.”
Kirill Dmitriev, the influential head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, struck a softer note, saying a Trump victory could be a chance to repair ties, reports Reuters.
“This opens up new opportunities for resetting relations between Russia and the United States,” added Dmitriev, a former Goldman Sachs banker who has previously had contacts with the Trump team.
The Guardian community team would like to hear people’s thoughts about Donald Trump having decisively won the US presidential election.
They are keen to hear from people who voted for Trump and those who did not about what shaped their vote, what they now make of the election result, and how they may now look back on the polls and the election campaigns of Trump and Kamala Harris.
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On stage in West Palm Beach in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Donald Trump thanked his supporters, his family and his campaign team as he declared victory in the US presidential race. One group not on the former president’s thank-you cards: the media, whom he referred to as “the enemy camp”.
Introducing his running mate, the Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump said:
I told JD to go into the enemy camp. He just goes: OK. Which one? CNN? MSNBC? He’s like the only guy who looks forward to going on, and then just absolutely obliterates them.”
Trump has had an antagonistic relationship with the US press for years, often labeling them as the “crooked media” and calling them the “enemy of the people”. But as the Republican candidate in recent weeks ramped up his rhetoric against his perceived opponents, he’s intensified his attacks on reporters as well.
The comment during Trump’s victory speech come less than a week after he joked during a campaign rally he would have no concerns about reporters being shot at if there were another assassination attempt against him.
During meandering comments at a rally in Pennsylvania last week, Trump complained about gaps in the bulletproof shields surrounding him after a gunman opened fire on him at a rally in July.
“To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and I don’t mind that so much,” he said.
The press, he added, were “seriously corrupt people”.
Trump’s communications director later claimed in a statement the comments were supposedly an effort to look out for the welfare of the news media.
Voters have elected a Republican majority in the Senate. They have also been electing members of the House of Representatives and state governors.
You can keep track of the results from all 50 states as they come in here:
Germany’s Scholz and Italy’s Meloni congratulate Trump on US election win
Olaf Scholz congratulated Donald Trump on Wednesday. In a post on X, the German chancellor said that Germany and the US will continue to work together to “successfully” promote “prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic”.
Scholz said:
I congratulate Donald Trump on his election as US president. For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens.”
Amid the congratulations, France and Germany arranged a last-minute meeting of their defence ministers on Wednesday to discuss the results of the US elections and its implications for Ukraine and European defence, reports the Associated Press (AP).
I congratulate @realDonaldTrump on his election as US President. For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens.
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) November 6, 2024
The Italian premier, Giorgia Meloni, also offered congratulations to Trump. According to the AP, Meloni said:
Italy and the United States are sister nations, linked by an unshakeable alliance, common values and a historic friendship. It is a strategic bond, which I am sure we will now strengthen even more.”
More a natural ally of Trump than many European leaders, Meloni in 2022 became the head of Italy’s first far-right-led government since the second world war. She has forged alliances with other right-wing leaders in Europe and has made a mark cracking down on migration.
Donald Trump’s shock return to the White House has delighted his tens of millions of supporters in the US but stunned the rest of the country and much of the fearfully watching world.
Few would have imagined such a scenario when Trump left office in disgrace in January 2021, in the wake of the attack on the Capitol in Washington DC and facing a long list of legal travails.
But his campaign has won back the Oval Office. It was possibly one of the most extreme campaigns in recent history, dogged by racist language, violent rhetoric and a profound sense of grievance. But it resonated with enough people in America to carve out a second Trump term and take the US into unexplored political terrain.
Here are some key moments, issues and events from the campaign:
‘Major blow to global climate action’: climate figures react to Trump re-election
Damian Carrington
Many climate figures are horrified by the re-election of Donald Trump as president, citing his past denial of climate change and promise to drill for more fossil fuels. But they also say that the progress of cheap, clean energy is now unstoppable, and that action by states, cities and businesses can continue climate action in the US, as during Trump’s first term. The UN climate summit Cop29, starting next week in Azerbaijan, will be attended by Biden officials.
Christiana Figueres, UN climate chief from 2010-2016, who oversaw the landmark Paris agreement said:
The result from this election will be seen as a major blow to global climate action, but it cannot and will not halt the changes under way to decarbonise the economy and meet the goals of the Paris agreement.
Standing with oil and gas is the same as falling behind in a fast moving world. Clean energy technologies will continue to outcompete fossil fuels. There is an antidote to doom and despair. It’s action on the ground, and it’s happening in all corners of the Earth.”
Bill Hare, climate scientist and CEO of Climate Analytics, said:
The election of a climate denier to the US presidency is extremely dangerous for the world. We are already seeing extreme damages, loss of life around the globe due to human induced warming of 1.3C.
President Trump will not be above the laws of physics and nor will the country that he leads. If Trump follows through with his threat to withdraw from the Paris agreement, the biggest loser will be the United States.”
Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate adviser and Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said:
No matter what Trump may say, the shift to clean energy is unstoppable and our country is not turning back. Our coalition is bigger, more bipartisan, better organised, and fully prepared to deliver climate solutions, boost local economies, and drive climate ambition.
We cannot and will not let Trump stand in the way of giving our kids and grandkids the freedom to grow up in safer and healthier communities.”
Mitzi Jonelle Tan, from Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, said:
Countries like the Philippines are already enduring life-shattering climate impacts. While the fossil fuel industry and leaders like Trump cling to a collapsing system, we cannot give in. We must continue to organise and campaign to bring the end of the fossil fuel era.”
Dr Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution at Imperial College London, UK, said:
Climate change doesn’t care about politics or which party is in government. The US will get hit by stronger storms and hotter heatwaves as long as the world burns oil, coal and gas.
Saying climate change isn’t real or dismantling climate policies won’t change that. I hope local governments will be able to step up in many places.”
Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet won election to a US House seat representing Michigan on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Her victory means Democrats will retain control of a competitive district after Dan Kildee, who has represented the Flint area for about a decade, decided to retire.
McDonald Rivet currently represents a competitive state Senate district that covers Midland, Saginaw and Bay City. She defeated Republican Paul Junge, who unsuccessfully ran against Kildee in 2022 and had worked in US customs and immigration services during the Trump administration.
The AP declared McDonald Rivet the winner at 6.09am EST.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy congratulates Trump on an ‘impressive election victory’
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has congratulated Donald Trump on “his impressive election victory”.
Posting on X before the Associated Press had declared Trump the winner, Zelenskyy wrote about his hopes for the US and Ukraine working to put “an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
He wrote:
Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on his impressive election victory!
I recall our great meeting with President Trump back in September, when we discussed in detail the Ukraine-US strategic partnership, the victory plan, and ways to put an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine.
I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the “peace through strength” approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together.
We look forward to an era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership. We rely on continued strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States.
We are interested in developing mutually beneficial political and economic cooperation that will benefit both of our nations. Ukraine, as one of Europe’s strongest military powers, is committed to ensuring long-term peace and security in Europe and the transatlantic community with the support of our allies.
I am looking forward to personally congratulating President Trump and discussing ways to strengthen Ukraine’s strategic partnership with the United States.
Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on his impressive election victory!
I recall our great meeting with President Trump back in September, when we discussed in detail the Ukraine-U.S. strategic partnership, the Victory Plan, and ways to put an end to Russian aggression against…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 6, 2024
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