Donald Trump appeared poised for a monumental victory over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, in what could be the most astonishing political comeback in U.S. history. Fox News boldly declared Trump the winner early Wednesday, the only major network to make the call as results poured in. Major networks had already awarded the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina to the 78-year-old former president, while he held a strong lead over Democratic Vice President Harris in remaining swing states.
Trump’s supporters gathered jubilantly at a watch party in Florida, awaiting his victory speech, as Harris’s camp plunged into disappointment. Cedric Richmond, Harris's campaign co-chair, informed her somber watch party at Howard University that she would not be addressing supporters as initially planned. “You won’t hear from the vice president tonight but you will tomorrow,” he said. The shift in tone was palpable at the event, held at her alma mater and a historically Black university, where anxious supporters began to disperse as results solidified Trump’s lead.
In a stunning blow to Democrats, Trump’s Republican Party also wrested control of the Senate, flipping two seats and ending the Democrats’ slim majority. The outcome threatens to send shockwaves globally, as U.S. allies in Europe and Asia brace for a return of Trump’s nationalist policies and his support for autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Despite the anxieties, markets responded positively. The U.S. dollar surged, Bitcoin hit record highs, and equities climbed as traders bet on a Trump victory.
As election night unfolded, there were celebrations at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where tech mogul Elon Musk — a Trump supporter rumored to lead a government efficiency commission under him — posted a photo with the Republican. “Game, set, and match,” Musk declared on X, the social platform he owns alongside Tesla and SpaceX.
Across the nation, millions of Americans turned out to vote in an election set to shape the country's trajectory. Voters faced a defining choice: grant Trump a historic comeback or elevate Harris to become the first female U.S. president. Yet the tension was undeniable. As results poured in, bomb threats against polling stations in Georgia and Pennsylvania — allegedly originating in Russia — heightened the stakes. While all threats were revealed as hoaxes, the FBI noted they successfully disrupted voting in some areas.
