LATEST UPDATES:
- Hillary Clinton offers concession speech Wednesday
- Donald J. Trump elected 45th president of the United States
- Trump wins Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
- Global markets nosedive amid chances of Trump victory
- Trump now has 279 electoral votes. Clinton has 228.
- Donald Trump takes Ohio and Florida; Clinton wins Virginia, California
- Polls close as America picks its 45th president
As Tuesday became Wednesday, Republican Donald Trump was elected president of the United States after defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton in a historic election.
The Republican nominee won Wednesday after capturing Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, putting him over the 270 threshold. Trump also secured major wins in key battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina.
Trump took the stage in New York early Wednesday morning, and said he’d “just received a call from secretary Clinton.”
“She congratulated us — it’s about us — on our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard fought campaign.”
In his first speech as president-elect Trump called for unity, and pledged to work hard for all Americans.
“Ours was not a campaign but an incredible and great movement,” said Trump.
“Working together we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding the nation and renewing the American dream.”
A tight race for the White House
Trump and Clinton scored early victories in states they were expected to win, with Trump taking Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia and Clinton sweping several states on the East Coast and Illinois in the Midwest.
Early Wednesday morning, Clinton won the statewide vote in Maine giving her three electoral votes. Trump won one district in the state and wins one electoral vote.
Clinton is projected to win:
- California (55 electoral votes)
- New York (29 electoral votes)
- Illinois (20 electoral votes)
- New Jersey (14 electoral votes)
- Virginia (14 electoral votes)
- Washington (12 electoral votes)
- Massachusetts (11 electoral votes)
- Maryland (10 electoral votes)
- Colorado (9 electoral votes)
- Oregon (7 electoral votes)
- Connecticut (7 electoral votes)
- Nevada (6 electoral votes)
- New Mexico (5 electoral votes)
- Hawaii (4 electoral votes)
- Rhode Island (4 electoral votes)
- Delaware (3 electoral votes)
- Washington, D.C. (3 electoral votes)
- Vermont (3 electoral votes)
-
![]()
Crushed Clinton supporters react to news of Florida, Iowa electoral losses -
![]()
Donald Trump supporters chant ‘USA, USA’ after Florida victory -
![]()
US Presidential Election 2016: Clinton supporters stunned as results roll in -
![]()
Donald Trump campaign HQ erupts in cheers as Trump declared winner in Florida -
![]()
Trump’s wins in battleground states making for tighter race than expected -
![]()
Donald Trump’s results have experts shocked -
![]()
Hillary Clinton is going to have to win Michigan and New Hampshire -
![]()
Florida, North Carolina goes to Trump; Colorado and Virginia head to Clinton -
![]()
Donald Trump campaign HQ reacts to news of Ohio win -
![]()
US financial leader in Japan says Trump presidency would worry Asian market -
![]()
Canadian citizen and immigration website crashing during U.S. election -
![]()
Prospect of Trump presidency sends world markets plunging -
![]()
Sarah Palin spotted mingling at Trump campaign HQ -
![]()
Trump wins Ohio, edging closer to presidency; Clinton wins Virginia -
![]()
Donald Trump jumps biggest hurdle, wins Florida -
![]()
Hillary Clinton ‘taking on water’ as polling numbers favour Trump -
![]()
New York goes to Clinton while Trump takes Texas; waits for key states
Trump is projected to win:
- Texas (38 electoral votes)
- Florida (29 electoral votes)
- Ohio (18 electoral votes)
- Georgia (16 electoral votes)
- North Carolina (15 electoral votes)
- Tennessee (11 electoral votes)
- Indiana (11 electoral votes)
- Missouri (10 electoral votes)
- Kentucky (8 electoral votes)
- Louisiana (8 electoral votes)
- South Carolina (9 electoral votes)
- Oklahoma (7 electoral votes)
- Mississippi (6 electoral votes)
- Alabama (9 electoral votes)
- Utah (6 electoral votes)
- Iowa (6 electoral votes)
- Arkansas (6 electoral votes)
- Kansas (6 electoral votes)
- West Virginia (5 electoral votes)
- Idaho (4 electoral votes)
- Nebraska (4 electoral votes)
- Alaska (3 electoral votes)
- Montana (3 electoral votes)
- Wyoming (3 electoral votes)
- North Dakota and South Dakota (6 total electoral votes)
Clinton campaign chair tells supporters to head home
Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta says her campaign will have nothing to say tonight about the state of the race with the election still too close to call.
“It’s been a long night, and it’s been a long campaign but I can say ‘we can wait a little longer can’t we?’” Podesta told supporters at Clinton headquarters in New York. “They are still counting votes, and every vote should count.”
Clinton trailed in the Electoral College count and Donald Trump is close to breaking the 270-vote threshold needed to become the 45th president.
“Everybody should head home and get some sleep. We’ll have more to say tomorrow,” he said.
Markets nosedive with increasing chance of Trump victory
The uncertainty sent Dow futures and Asian markets tumbling, reflecting investor concern over what a Trump presidency might mean for the economy and trade.
Dow futures were down 3.7 percent or 679 points at 17,612.00 and S&P futures had dropped 4.4 percent to 2,041.70. The Nikkei 225 stock index closed 5.4 percent lower, recouping some losses, at 16,251.54. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 2.7 percent to 22,294.38 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 2.4 percent to 1,955.11.
Bush and other Republicans don’t vote Trump
High-profile members of the Republican party have come out publicly to say they did not vote for Donald Trump.
A spokesman for George W. Bush says the former president did not vote for Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton. Freddy Ford said Bush voted “none of the above for president and Republican down-ballot.”
Andrea Patience, a 50-year-old pharmacy technician, was among those standing in line when the computer malfunctioned. She said she waited an hour for it to be fixed and that roughly 50 people who were in line at the time left.
“There were a lot of upset people,” Patience said. “I don’t know if they will come back later or decide not to vote.”
Americans are relieved election is over
Even before Tuesday, almost 45 million people had cast ballots for president. Many expressed relief the end was in sight after an election season in which personal attacks often drowned out the issues.
“I’m tired of the mudslinging,” said Laura Schmitt, a 54-year-old Republican from Woodbury, Minnesota, who was voting for Trump. Emetric Whittington, a 51-year-old Democratic mother of three on Chicago’s violence-plagued South Side, agreed: “I can’t wait for this night to be over.”
READ MORE: Control of U.S. Senate comes down to nail-biter races
Throughout the campaign Clinton has denounced Trump for calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and promoting a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., and for his long line of remarks about women that culminated in an audio recording where he bragged about sexual assault. Trump has called his opponent “Crooked Hillary” for her use of a private email server as secretary of state and her ties to the family’s Clinton Foundation.
“I can’t vote for somebody who’s so morally reprehensible,” said Lisa Moore, a 48-year-old Republican from Glen Rock, New Jersey, who picked Clinton. Democrat Charles Ikner of Cross Lanes, West Virginia, opted for Trump, saying it was time for “fresh blood” in the White House.
In the final days, Clinton was buoyed by FBI Director James Comey’s weekend declaration that he wouldn’t recommend criminal charges against her following a new email review.
READ MORE: Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton: The most memorable, cringe-worthy moments from the 2016 campaign
*With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
Comments