Donald Trump won back his presidency after two impeachment proceedings during his first term, an election defeat in 2020, two failed assassination attempts, and four criminal proceedings during his second. He achieved this success through four legal filings that challenged his legitimacy as president and in 2024 secured it back from 2025 elections. At 5:35 a.m. Wednesday morning, The Associated Press officially conceded Donald Trump the election after his win in Wisconsin earned 277 electoral votes and narrow margins between himself and Vice President Kamala Harris were evident from polling data for months prior to election night. But within hours after polls closed, Trump amassed victory after victory in key states. “This movement was something no one has seen before — in my estimation it may even be considered one of the greatest political movements ever seen!” Trump declared shortly before 2:30 AM at his West Palm Beach, Florida party. At the time he spoke, results indicated Donald Trump was on track to winning all seven battleground states; Harris almost universally underperformed Joe Biden’s 2020 victory against Trump. Officially, The AP had not officially called Trump’s race by 2 a.m. ET; however, Trump led in partial results as revealed by North Carolina and Georgia being called for him by 1 am; Fox News followed suit and called Pennsylvania for Trump – while all networks as well as The AP followed up soon afterwards. By the time Donald Trump took to the West Palm Beach stage with his family and running mate Sen. JD Vance by his side, he had good reason to believe he would emerge victorious. Trump pledged his assistance for helping heal America. “This country needs help; very badly!” Trump stated during his acceptance speech. “Our borders will be secured, our economy reformed and everything about our nation will be improved,” he stated, and pledged his dedication in fighting on your behalf and for your family and future – not only every single day but with everything I have in me to fight hard every time for what matters to you and me! I pledge my life’s work fighting tirelessly every single day on your behalf.” Trump’s victory will likely signal an end to all federal criminal proceedings related to federal felonies brought against him, thus concluding what has become known as his Golden Age of American Politics. Sentencing for President Donald Trump’s Manhattan falsifying of business records case has been scheduled for Nov 26. Fulton County DA Fani Willis who also leads this prosecution of him was recently reelected and continues her effort; but, due to appeals of judge’s rulings on that case it remains on hold for now. Harris’ Howard University watch party in Washington D.C. remained subdued after CNN announced Donald Trump had won in North Carolina; within moments the Harris campaign cut off CNN audio transmission and switched it for music instead of TV commentary. CNN announced Georgia was another battleground state where Donald Trump would win and Harris decided not to address her election night gathering at Howard, her alma mater. Instead, former Rep. Cedric Richmond — her campaign co-chair — addressed the crowd shortly before 1 am to remind everyone “we still have votes to count. There are states yet uncalled.” Overnight we will continue our fight to ensure every vote counts and every voice has been heard – so, while you won’t hear from Vice President Pence tonight, she will certainly speak up tomorrow.” Richmond announced Harris would return on Nov. 6 to address Howard University, her supporters, and the nation. Crowds filed out after his brief remarks; earlier that same day in Palm Beach Florida Donald Trump repeated many campaign lies that had plagued his campaign campaign. Trump continued his unsubstantiated allegations of illegal election activity shortly before polls closed, writing on Truth Social that there had been “massive cheating in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!.” Philadelphia law enforcement and local officials quickly dismissed these assertions as false and baseless. Republican City Commissioner Seth Bluestein responded on X, noting: “There is absolutely no truth to these allegations – yet another instance of disinformation. Voting has always been safe and secure here in Philadelphia.” Prior to Election Day, Trump and social media posts also made false allegations of “cheating” in Pennsylvania – a pivotal battleground state with 19 Electoral College votes that Trump ultimately won – only for these claims to cease once polls closed and results began emerging in his favor. He watched most of the results come in from Mar-a-Lago with close allies at hand and shortly before midnight, The Associated Press called the Senate election for Republicans. That victory was enabled when Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno unseated Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of few remaining Democratic survivors in an increasingly red state. As expected, Republicans were able to flip a seat in West Virginia while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) secured victory, giving them enough votes for an outright Republican majority in Congress. If Democrats fail to defend Senate seats in Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and possibly Nevada then their Republican opposition would become stronger and they may even gain control of both houses of congress; as of 3 am it was too early to call whether either would or wouldn’t. States establish laws which set deadlines for when ballots must be counted – often taking multiple weeks – with some setting official count dates in November/December as well. It may take media outlets more than several hours before projecting a winner is announced. Major media outlets, including The Associated Press and major broadcast and cable outlets, enlist in-house staff and consultants to project winners based on unofficial running counts announced by election officials, which may or may not reflect partial results. If margins are too close for call, counting may take additional time. As of 2 a.m. ET on November 4, approximately over half of Arizona votes had already been counted; historically it takes the state 10-13 days before complete ballot counts are completed. The federal government has set several important dates in order to complete the counting and certification processes: Dec. 11 is the deadline for states to send certifications of election results directly to federal officials after having certified elections results within their states; on Dec 17th will be held an Electoral College Meeting. On Dec. 31, 2025, electors in each of the 50 states cast ballots that will then be sent to DC where they are transmitted to the National Archivist and President of Senate for analysis by January 6, 2025 before being read aloud at a joint session of Congress and on Jan 20, 2025 being inaugurated as president by Jan 20, 2025. This article originally appeared on PolitiFact (part of Poynter Institute).
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