Former President Donald Trump celebrated the election results during a speech from West Palm Beach, Florida just after midnight on Wednesday, promising a new “golden age for America”.
Trump had been declared the winner of several battleground states by early Wednesday morning. CNN had declared him the victor in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin remained too close to call, though he held leads in each of those states.
“This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,” he said. “There’s never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond, and now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal.”
He touted a “political victory that our country has never seen before” and promised the “golden age” of the United States. He described his voter group as “the most unified coalition,” touting his gains among Black and Hispanic voters.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he said. “We have taken back control of the Senate.”
Republicans were poised to win a majority of Senate seats, including races in Ohio and Montana, where Republicans Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy unseated Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester.
Vance, who currently serves as an Ohio senator, also addressed the crowd, describing Trump’s performance as “the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America.”
Trump’s celebratory tone followed a tense campaign against Harris which saw the two candidates spar over issues like the economy, immigration and how to preserve democracy. In the final days of the campaign, Harris raised concerns about a number of Trump’s statements, describing him as a threat to democracy.
“After the greatest political comeback in American history, we’re going to lead the greatest economic comeback in American history under Donald Trump’s leadership,” Vance said.
While Trump took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m., Harris had not spoken tonight, and her campaign has confirmed she will not be doing so tonight.
“You won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow,” said Harris campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond at Howard University.
Exit polls of the 2024 electorate showed that voters were energized by issues like the economy and protecting democracy, while also showing Trump make gains among Hispanic voters in several key states.
Harris and her supporters are hoping that in the remainder battlegrounds, gains among white voters in suburbs will offset those shifts.
Polls leading up to the race showed a tight race in the final days of the campaign. FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregate showed Harris leading by an average of 1.2 percentage points on Election Day.
The post Donald Trump in Victory Speech Says Win Ushers in New ‘Golden Age’ for US appeared first on Newsweek.
