Trump officially sweeps all 7 swing states
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President-elect Trump swept all seven of the swing states closely watched in the 2024 election, according to the Associated Press vote count.
The big picture: Trump's decisive victory gives him 312 electoral votes and puts him on track to be the first Republican candidate in two decades to win the popular vote.
- Trump's win underscores his dominance as the Republican Party kingmaker. His once-fringe MAGA movement is on track to be institutionalized — especially if the GOP officially wins both chambers of Congress.
- Arizona was the final state to be called after Trump had already secured the required Electoral College votes to win. The AP called the state on Saturday night.
State of play: Although states considered to be battlegrounds vary from cycle to cycle, such a commanding swing state sweep has not been seen in several elections.
- In 2020, President Biden's win was propelled by Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin — states Trump carried the prior cycle. Of the states now considered battlegrounds, Trump won only North Carolina that cycle.
- This year, Trump won all of them — plus Nevada, which the Dems had held for two decades.
In 2008, former President Barack Obama similarly swept nearly every battleground, only narrowly losing then-swing state Missouri (which is now solidly red) to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). Obama also twice won Florida, now ruby-red.
- One of the most notable red takeovers was 1984, when Ronald Reagan took every state on the map aside from Minnesota and D.C., winning the highest Electoral College count in modern American history.
- Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale, who ran alongside Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to appear on a major party's presidential ticket.
- After Reagan's commanding sweep, President George H.W. Bush also brought the GOP a decisive victory but lost the then-battleground state of New York, which has not flipped red since 1984.
Zoom out: As for the popular vote, Democrats had carried it in the last four elections.
- In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote by around 2.9 million to his opponent Hillary Clinton but secured the battleground states needed to win the Electoral College.
- In 2004, former President George W. Bush became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since 1988, when his father, George H.W. Bush, was elected to the White House.
The intrigue: Even solidly blue states saw a rightward shift this year, as Democrats across the country lost ground among key demographics, including Black and Latino men, young people and independents, Axios has reported.
What he's saying: Trump celebrated his win as the "greatest political movement we've ever seen" during a Wednesday morning speech in West Palm Beach.
- His return to the White House will make him the second president in history to win in non-consecutive races. Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, was the first to accomplish the feat.
- Cleveland, a Democrat, narrowly won the 1884 election but lost his bid for a second term to the GOP's Benjamin Harrison. He ran a third campaign in 1892 and won both the electoral and popular vote.
Go deeper: 2024 Election: Historic firsts you might have missed
