Trump declares ‘unprecedented mandate’ after winning presidency for second time
Former President Trump declared the country had delivered him and Republicans an “unprecedented mandate” as he took a victory lap early Wednesday after multiple outlets projected he would win the White House.
“This is a moment like nobody’s ever seen before. Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country,” Trump told supporters in Florida who had gathered for his campaign’s watch party.
“And now, it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal,” Trump continued. “We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders; we’re going to fix everything about our country. We made history for a reason tonight.”
Trump was projected to win the presidency, according to Decision Desk HQ, having carried Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The former president addressed supporters from a watch party near his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he took in the election results with family members, allies and close advisers.
Those in attendance included billionaire Elon Musk and former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., both of whom endorsed Trump and are expected to play a role in his next administration.
The former president appears on track for a convincing victory, as he is also leading narrowly in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada as those states continue to count ballots with the races too close to call. Arizona and Nevada could take days to tabulate their ballots.
A New York Times projection showed Trump was also on track to narrowly win the popular vote, something he did not do in 2016 when he first won the White House and something a Republican candidate has only done once since 1992.
“America has given us a powerful and unprecedented mandate,” Trump said.
Trump claimed Republicans had won Senate races in Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, despite those contests still being too close to call. Republicans did have leads in all four states early Wednesday morning.
The GOP has already flipped control of the Senate by winning seats in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. Additional wins could create a much larger Senate majority.
Control of the House of Representatives remained up for grabs early Wednesday.
Exit polls showed Trump making huge gains with Latino voters, bolstering his margins in rural areas and running nearly even with Vice President Harris among young men.
The Harris campaign maintained late Tuesday night that there was a path to victory for the vice president if she was able to win the “blue wall” states. But Harris did not appear to get the vote totals she needed out of Philadelphia in particular, closing her path in Pennsylvania and to the White House.
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