Former President Donald Trump has defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in a stunning victory, delivering him a second term in the White House after a historic election cycle filled with unprecedented twists and turns and two attempts on his life, the Fox News decision desk has projected.
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.
Trump’s comeback win was official after Fox News called Wisconsin in his favor, a state he narrowly lost in 2020.
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.
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.
With Fox News report
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