Donald Trump wins, defeating Kamala Harris for president in sweeping and historic political comeback

The twice-impeached, acquitted and indicted former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday— marking a return to an unprecedented style of governing that could include mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants and a self-proclaimed “era of retribution.”

Trump relished in his victory in West Palm Beach, Florida, early Wednesday, declaring, “I think this was the greatest political movement of all time."

The Associated Press called the race early Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, Harris had yet to concede.

While polls had shown the race was close in key battleground states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and North Carolina, the math, as in 2016, was in Trump’s favor. Harris appeared to underperform in Blue Wall states like Michigan and Wisconsin, considered must-win states.

Trump announced his campaign in 2022 — and Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the ticket in late July, showing a stark contrast in campaigning. Trump’s final stumping included unconventional events, like manning the fry station at a McDonald’s and dancing to music for 40 minutes at a town hall, both in must-win Pennsylvania.

The former president described the country as a dark place that only he can fix — and often derailed Harris in misogynistic and racist attacks. In a divided country, those words seemed to work with voters who were angry and wanted change, and exit polls have shown men were his strongest supporters.

Whatever the strategy, it seemed to work against Harris’ rapid fire and well-funded ground operation, which included rallies in key battleground states, hundreds of endorsements from current and former Republican officials and a media blitz of ads and interviews.

Questions likely about Democrats’ strategy

The post-mortem of the campaign will throw into question whether Democrats should have held an open primary when Biden stepped out of the race and why the Blue Wall unraveled for Harris. Some will point the finger at Biden for not dropping out of the race sooner.

In traditionally blue Illinois, the Associated Press called the race for Harris within an hour of the polls closing. Harris led 2,511,624 to Trump’s 2,088,349 votes with 78% of expected votes counted. And despite Robert F. Kennedy withdrawing from the race and endorsing Trump, his name still appeared on the Illinois ballot — with more than 66,249 voting for him.

Trump, who stayed in Chicago’s Trump International Tower and Hotel in between shuttling to campaign events this year, held two Chicago events during the campaign: an Economic Club of Chicago event in October before a receptive crowd in which he declared Jan. 6 was “love and peace,” and a National Association of Black Journalists’ conference in which he lied about Harris’ racial identity.

At the October event, Trump once again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

While Harris focused her efforts in key battleground states, she stumped in suburban Glencoe in May. And she accepted the Democratic nomination for president in Chicago on Aug. 22, a feat brought to the city by Pritzker, Sen. Tammy Duckworth and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Gov. Pritzker’s role in the campaign

Gov. JB Pritzker, who was in the running to serve as Harris’ running mate, became a key surrogate for both Biden and Harris — and he also put his money where his mouth was, most recently contributing $923,000 to Harris’ campaign in late September. Pritzker also focused his efforts on abortion rights ballot initiatives in eight states, including Arizona, Florida and Arizona.

Official results in the election will cap an unpredictable and headline-grabbing cycle, which just this year included two assassination attempts on Trump and Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York. Even with Harris' defeat, Trump still faces potential sentencing on those charges on Nov. 26. But his victory could result in federal charges being dismissed, and state criminal cases could be frozen until he leaves office. 

Harris jumped into the race on July 21 after President Joe Biden delivered a disastrous debate performance opposite Trump June 27. A Harris win would have marked a monumental moment in U.S. history for women in a country that has been led by men for 235 years. 

Harris, along with Biden, raised more than $1.8 billion with their presidential campaign committee. Trump and his allied committees have raised more than $1 billion since he announced his run for presidency in November 2022. 

That long slog of a campaign meant that Harris’ jump into the race in late July saw a big boost of energy for Democrats, many of whom did not trust Biden to lead a second term, over his age, and also policies that angered the party’s more progressive voters.

Trump on abortion

After repeatedly taking credit for appointing three U.S. Supreme Court justices who reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Trump’s stance on abortion has grown squishy. During the only presidential debate, Trump said, I'm not signing a ban, and there's no reason to sign a ban, because we've gotten what everybody wanted, Democrats, Republicans and everybody else, and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states." 

Trump has also criticized Florida’s six-week abortion ban, and said he favors exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. In an NBC interview in September, he said six weeks is “too short” and that he is is “going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.” 

On immigration, Trump has said he'll conduct the largest deportation in American history, rounding up millions of immigrants living in the country illegally to detain and deport them. 

On the campaign trail, Trump has told supporters to see him as “your retribution.” He vowed that if reelected, he would use his power to remake parts of the federal government. He has promised to hinder perceived enemies, including the Department of Justice.

And in June, he vowed he would appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” the Bidens and said he would “totally obliterate the deep state.”

"This is the final battle,” Trump said in March. “...Either they win or we win.”