By Steve Holland, Joseph Ax, Gabriella Borter and Tim Reid
PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -Donald Trump recaptured the White House with a sweeping victory on Wednesday as tens of millions of Americans looked past criminal convictions and divisive rhetoric to embrace a leader who, if he carries out his campaign promises, will test the limits of presidential power.
Trump, 78, clinched Tuesday’s election after a polarizing and dizzying campaign marked by two attempts on his life and a late decision by Democrats to run Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.
The resounding victory made clear how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy, border security and the direction of the country and its culture. Voters demanded a change, even if the agent of change was a convicted felon twice impeached and no longer the Washington outsider he was in his 2016 campaign.
Trump has said he wants the authority to fire civil servants he views as disloyal. His opponents fear he will turn the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies into political weapons to investigate perceived enemies.
Trump and his incoming vice president, U.S. Senator JD Vance, are due to take office on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. He promised roles in his administration to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The outcome defied polls that showed a razor-close race ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day. Trump mopped up at least five so-called battleground states to push him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. He appeared headed for victory in the two remaining battleground states – Arizona and Nevada – where votes were still being tallied.
Trump’s lead over Harris stood at 5 million votes by Wednesday afternoon, putting him on track to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush two decades ago.
His fellow Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats and stood a chance of adding to their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, though the outcome there likely will not be known for several days.
“It was a hell of a good day,” said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader.
Republican unity on Capitol Hill would clear the way for major portions of Trump’s legislative agenda, as it did in the first two years of his 2017-2021 presidency when Republicans whipped a major tax-cut bill through Congress that mainly benefited the wealthy.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said early on Wednesday to a roaring crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida.
Harris, the U.S. vice president, called Trump to congratulate him, aides said, and they discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans. She will publicly concede the election to Trump at around 4 p.m. (2100 GMT), a source told Reuters.
Major stock markets around the world rallied following Trump’s victory, and the dollar was set for its biggest one-day jump since 2020.
OVERCOMING ODDS
Trump was elected despite persistently low approval ratings, four criminal indictments and a civil judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation. In May, Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.
Trump’s political career had appeared to be over after his false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to overturn his 2020 defeat. Federal prosecutors indicted him although that and other criminal cases brought against him will now be shelved.
But he swept away challengers inside the Republican Party and then beat Harris by capitalizing on voter concerns about high prices and what Trump claimed, without evidence, was a rise in crime due to illegal immigration.
Trump’s win will have major implications for U.S. trade and climate change policies, Americans’ taxes and immigration, and U.S. foreign policy, including in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump, Netanyahu’s office said. They discussed “the Iranian threat” and the need to work together for Israel’s security, it said.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, called for an end to the “blind support” for Israel from the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed Trump’s commitment to “peace through strength,” while the Kremlin said it would wait and see if his victory could help end the war in Ukraine more quickly. Trump had said he could end the war in 24 hours but did not say how.
JOBS AND ECONOMY
Heading into the election, voters identified jobs and the economy as the country’s most pressing problem, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls. Many Americans remained frustrated by higher prices even amid record-high stock markets, fast-growing wages and low unemployment.
With the Biden administration taking much of the blame, a majority of voters said they trusted Trump more than Harris to address the issue.
In counties across the U.S. – even many heavily Democratic ones – results showed Trump performed better than he did in 2020.
Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and lower-income households hit hardest by inflation helped fuel the victory. Trump’s support among women, whose backing Democrats had counted on, improved from four years ago. And his loyal base of rural, white and non-college educated voters again showed up in force, according to Edison Research exit polls.
Trump’s tariff proposals could spark a fiercer trade war with China and U.S. allies, while his pledges to reduce corporate taxes and implement a spate of new cuts could balloon U.S. debt, economists say.
A second Trump presidency could drive a bigger wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues such as immigration, race, gender and reproductive rights.
Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting immigrants in the country illegally.
HARRIS FALLS SHORT
In July, Biden, 81, dropped out of the race, finally bowing to weeks of pressure from his fellow Democrats after a poor performance during his debate with Trump called into question his mental acuity.
Harris raced to mount her own campaign. Her rise to the top of the ticket reenergized despondent Democrats, and she raised more than $1 billion in less than three months while erasing what had been a solid Trump lead in opinion polls.
Harris’ financial advantage was partly countered by the intervention of Musk, who poured more than $100 million into a super PAC mobilizing Trump voters and used his social media site X to amplify pro-Trump messaging.
As the campaign drew to a close, Harris increasingly focused on warning Americans about the perils of reelecting Trump and offered an olive branch to disaffected Republicans.
She highlighted remarks from several former Trump officials, including his former chief of staff General John Kelly, who described Trump as a “fascist.”
Underscoring the polarization in a nation where divisions have only grown starker during a fiercely competitive race, nearly three-quarters of voters said American democracy is under threat, according to Edison Research exit polls.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax, Nandita Bose, Doina Chiacu, Gabriel Araujo in Washington; Andrea Shalal in Dearborn, Michigan; Gram Slattery in Pittsburgh; Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia; Gabriella Borter and Alexandra Ulmer in Phoenix; Helen Coster in Raleigh, North Carolina; Stephanie Kelly in Asheville, North Carolina; Steve Holland in Palm Beach, Florida; Tim Reid and Bianca Flowers in Atlanta; Writing by Joseph Ax, Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Ross Colvin, Colleen Jenkins, Paul Thomasch, Howard Goller and Alistair Bell)
