Trump defeated Vice President Harris, who entered this race just over 100 days ago.
Trump will be the first president to serve two nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892 — and only the second in history.
Trump was first elected president in 2016, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and vowing to “Make America Great Again.” He lost re-election to President Biden in 2020 during the global coronavirus pandemic but re-claimed the White House in 2024 after a nearly two-year campaign, vowing to “Make America Great Once Again.”The President-elect was pushed over the 270 electoral vote threshold after a stunning win in the battleground states of North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Pennsylvania was one of the most important states Trump to won, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign having identified it as one of three Rust Belt states on its “clearest path to 270 electoral votes.”
The once and future president also took Georgia, no doubt a sweet victory for him after a bitter, narrow loss there in 2020.
Supporters watch returns at a campaign election night watch party for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump formally announced his presidential campaign on Nov. 15, 2022 – just days after the midterm elections.
Trump campaigned for a second term on the record of his first and focused on the failures of the Biden-Harris administration. The former president was able to point to the reversal of some of his key policies as reasons why inflation rose and the U.S. border crisis worsened.
Trump faced a crowded GOP primary field, but emerged as the frontrunner yet again, easily defeating his opponents – all of whom eventually endorsed him to be the 47th President of the United States – and winning each primary contest.
Until July, Trump was running against Biden, who was seeking re-election for a second term.
But the two debated for the first time in June, and weeks later, after a disastrous debate performance, Biden was pressured by Democrat insiders to suspend his presidential bid.
Biden made the announcement in a social media post and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee in his place, moving his vice president to the top of the ticket.
The decision for Biden to drop out of the race came just days after the Republican National Convention (RNC) finished, and after Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, formally accepted the GOP nomination.
But Trump, just days before accepting the Republican nomination, survived an assassination attempt at a rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. During the event, Trump was showing off a chart highlighting how illegal immigration skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump credits the chart for saving his life.
But weeks later, in September, another would-be-assassin hid himself in the bushes at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47-style rifle pointing through the fence toward Trump as he was golfing. Trump was rushed off the golf course by U.S. Secret Service agents unharmed.
Just a day later, Trump told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that the “rhetoric” of Biden, Harris and the Democrats was to blame.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.”
The general election showcased two very different visions for the future of the United States of America.
The Trump campaign touted pro-growth, America first economic policies, securing the border, ending inflation, and restoring “peace through strength” as part of the president’s plan.
The Trump campaign’s closing message was: “Harris broke it. Trump will fix it.”
TRUMP MAKES FRIES AT PENNSYLVANIA MCDONALD’S: ‘I’VE NOW WORKED FOR 15 MINUTES MORE THAN KAMALA’
In the final weeks of the campaign, Trump traveled to Pennsylvania to work at a McDonald’s drive-thru window as a fry cook in a jab at Harris, who previously claimed that she worked at the fast-food chain.
Meanwhile, Harris campaigned that Trump was a threat to democracy and warned supporters that he would sign a national abortion ban – something Trump repeatedly denied.
As for the rhetoric, it never quite fizzled. Trump held a massive, sold-out campaign rally just a week before Election Day at Madison Square Garden in traditionally blue New York City. Democrats, including Harris, later likened Trump to “Hitler.”
And less than a week before Election Day, Biden described Trump supporters as “garbage.”
Trump landed key endorsements from top Republicans during his bid for the White House but also created unlikely allies, like former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Trump also drew support from top business leaders like Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick. Lutnick told Fox News Digital that many Wall Street leaders had privately committed their support to Trump.
Trump’s victory comes after years of what his campaign called a “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
Trump’s post-presidential life and third campaign was reminiscent of his days in the Oval Office, marred by investigations, which the former president and his allies said were just part of an effort by his political opponents to prevent him from running for re-election in 2024.
Trump, who was the first president in U.S. history to be impeached and acquitted twice, was also the first president to be indicted, not just once, but four times over.
Just days after announcing his re-election bid in November 2022, Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped former DOJ official Jack Smith as special counsel. The appointment came several months after the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, claiming he improperly retained classified records from his presidency. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from that probe.
The case was eventually tossed completely by a federal judge in Florida, who ruled that Smith was improperly and unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
Smith also took over an investigation into alleged 2020 election interference. Trump also pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue on the basis of presidential immunity.
The high court ruled that Trump was immune from prosecution for official presidential acts, forcing Smith to file a new indictment. Trump pleaded not guilty to those new charges as well. Trump attorneys are now seeking to have the election interference charges dropped in Washington, D.C., similarly alleging that Smith was appointed unlawfully.
But that case wasn’t the first Trump-related Supreme Court ruling this election cycle. Colorado, attempting to use the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, sought to remove Trump from the 2024 primary ballot, but the Supreme Court sided unanimously with the former president, impacting efforts in several other states to do the same.
In 2023, Trump was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with allegedly falsifying business records. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges but sat through an unprecedented six-week criminal trial in New York City this spring. The jury found him guilty.
Trump appealed the ruling, and the judge presiding over the case set his sentencing date for after the election.
Trump also sat inside a courtroom in the fall of 2023 for a civil fraud trial stemming from a lawsuit brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Judge Arthur Engoron demanded Trump pay more than $450 million.
But a New York appeals court appeared open-minded and receptive in September to reversing or reducing that judgment.
Trump has also appealed a ruling to pay E. Jean Carroll more than $80 million in a defamation suit. As president, Trump said Carroll was lying about allegations of sexual assault. This year, a New York jury ruled that he defamed Carroll’s character in denying the allegations and defending himself.
And in Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump in her election interference case. He pleaded not guilty but was booked and had his mugshot taken – a photo his campaign used throughout the election cycle to illustrate the “lawfare” used against him.
A Georgia judge tossed a number of charges against Trump, and the case is on hold.
The future of the cases and charges hang in limbo, as the president-elect will have the power to pardon himself once sworn in.
But Trump, through all of the unprecedented legal challenges, took every opportunity to campaign. After hours in court this spring, Trump delivered pizzas to the New York City Fire Department.
Trump told his supporters he thought the prosecutions would have “the reverse effect” on his presidential bid – and he was apparently right.