Election Night: Trump closes in on presidency; GOP takes Senate
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Editor's note: Former President Trump won the 2024 presidential election, AP projected Wednesday.
Former President Trump has taken North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania and all but locked up the presidency.
Why it matters: Trump would be just the second president ever to leave the White House and then win it back — doing so despite felony convictions, assassination attempts and countless scandals.
- Trump's plans for the country include mass deportations, sweeping tariffs, and expanded oil and gas drilling.
- He'll be aided by a GOP-led Senate, after Republicans flipped multiple seats, though it remains unclear which party will control the House.
Driving the news: Trump made triumphant remarks early Wednesday from West Palm Beach, Fla., promising a "new golden age" for America and marveling at his own political comeback.
- Vice President Harris, by contrast, did not speak at her own Election Night event in Washington, D.C. as her path to victory continued to narrow.
State of play: Trump is leading in the other four swing states — Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin — though none have yet been called by the Associated Press.
- Alaska's three electoral votes, which will almost certainly be called in Trump's favor, would put him at the 270 needed to clinch victory.
Our live coverage has concluded, but follow along with our live results dashboard and scroll down to see how a historic night unfolded.
Trump hailed his return to the verge of the presidency as the "greatest political movement of all time" during an Election Night party in West Palm Beach, Fla, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.
What he's saying: "This will truly be the golden age of America," Trump said at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, surrounded by members of his family, campaign staff and surrogates.
- Trump promised to "seal up the borders" and make America safer and more prosperous.
- He also said that his campaign "overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible"during his bid for the White House.
- Trump invited Sen. JD Vance up to the podium, quipping that after taking criticism for his VP pick "he's turned out to be a good choice."
Zoom in: He also spoke at length about his partnerships with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk.
The chaos surrounding Detroit's election four years ago has been absent this year as workers continued counting ballots in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Axios Detroit's Joe Guillen reports.
Flashback: In 2020 Trump's supporters descended on Detroit's convention hall chanting "stop the count" and banging on windows as election workers counted absentee ballots.
The latest: Michigan results should be finished before 6am, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told reporters Tuesday night.
- As of about 1am ET, about 60% of Michigan's votes had been reported, per AP.
What they're saying: "You hear that? I think I hear people singing Kumbaya. It's very peaceful here today," Daniel Baxter, the city's elections operations chief, told reporters inside Huntington Place, the city's convention hall.
- "It's diametrically different from the experience that we had in 2020."
Between the lines: This differences are in part due to the state's new election laws that expanded early voting and allowed ballots to be processed before Election Day.
