Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president, defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in a stunning political upset on Tuesday night.
In a move that shocked pollsters and pundits across the United States, Trump broke through a longstanding Democratic firewall, carrying Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states that hadn’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since the 1980s.
He needed to win nearly all of the competitive battleground states, and he did just that, claiming Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and others.
His triumph over Hillary Clinton will end eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House and threatens to undo major achievements of President Barack Obama. He’s pledged to act quickly to repeal Obama’s landmark health care law, revoke the nuclear agreement with Iran and rewrite important trade deals with other countries, particularly Mexico and Canada.
In a speech to supporters at his campaign event early Wednesday morning, Trump said Clinton called him to congratulate him, and he, in turn, congratulated her on “a very hard-fought campaign.”
“We owe her a major debt of gratitude,” Trump said. “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division…. It is time for us to come together.”
“I will be president for all Americans.”
To be historic, we have to do a great job. And I promise you that I will not let you down.
Global stock markets and U.S. stock futures plunged deeply, reflecting investor alarm over what a Trump presidency might mean for the economy and trade.
By 2 a.m. ET, Democratic campaign chair John Podesta told the crowd at an election event that Clinton wouldn’t make a speech until later Wednesday morning.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “It’s been a long night and it’s been a long campaign.”
As Clinton’s team anxiously waited for results to roll in, the candidate tweeted to supporters, “Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”
Clinton was vying to become the country’s first female head of state, encumbered by controversies from her years as secretary of state and in the years afterward.
Trump was trying to make history as a political outsider who promised to clean up the “swamp” of Washington — yet battled accusations of racism, sexism and questionable business practices.
As voting results streamed in, the website for Citizenship and Immigration Canada reportedly crashed — though it was unclear if the disruption was caused by a flood of Americans looking to make good on threats to move north of the border should Trump win.
In an increasingly polarized political environment, they were two of the most disliked candidates ever to vie for the White House.
Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigrants, tear up free-trade deals he considers unfair and better seal the country’s borders.
Election day came in the United States at the end of a campaign like few others, pitting Trump, an extraordinary political outsider who broke most of the rules of the game, against Clinton, a political veteran trailed by years of baggage and multiple controversies.
As a larger-than-life real estate mogul and reality-television star, Trump was never given a chance when he launched his campaign in June 2015, entering a crowded race for the Republican nomination that featured many of the party’s leading lights.
He generated controversy from the first day, announcing he would have a wall built along the border with Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants he suggested were mostly rapists and drug traffickers.
Trump continued to draw condemnation as the primary season unfolded and he pursued a combative, politically incorrect strategy. That included personal attacks and name-calling against his opponents, and promoting his nativist, populist and nationalist ideas at boisterous rallies.
He was lambasted for vowing to bar Muslims from entering the country as a way to limit the risk of terrorism, and to expel millions of illegal immigrants, but he also built a powerful core of loyal supporters.
By the end of the Republican contest, he had improbably and convincingly triumphed.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a reluctant Trump supporter, called the businessman earlier in the evening Tuesday to congratulate him, according to a Ryan spokeswoman.
Clinton, who lost a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008 to Barack Obama, had at one point been viewed as a shoo-in for the position in 2016. But she faced a surprisingly strong fight from Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described social democrat who pushed left-of-centre policies and challenged a party elite he argued had lost touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans.