Trump wins, GOP flips Senate, House a tossup

America elected its first president with a felony conviction

(Image credit: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris yesterday to win a second term in office, flipping back most or all of the swing states he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. Republicans also won control of the Senate, while Democrats were slight favorites to flip control of the House. If House Republicans keep their slim majority, the GOP will control the entire federal government for the first time since 2019.

Who said what

Trump declared victory early today, after the networks projected he would win Pennsylvania. "We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible," for "a political victory that our country is never seen before," he said. "Every citizen, I will fight for you."

Preliminary exit polls showed that "the mood of the country is pessimistic," with 43% of voters "dissatisfied" with the way America is headed and another 29% "angry," NBC News said. Trump benefitted from people being "fed up" with "the cost of everything going up and up," Reuters' James Oliphant said on X. "Was it all Biden-Harris' fault? Probably not," but "Trump was the middle-finger candidate in '16 and he became that again."

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The "biggest" and "most obvious" conclusion from the election, The Associated Press said, is that America elected its "first president with a felony conviction." His "enduring political strength through chaos — much of it his own making — has carried few political costs so far," said The Washington Post. And once again the country declined to elect its first woman president.

According to exit polls, Harris lost ground with Latino, Black and younger voters. If liberals are "looking for a silver lining," this election was the "least racially polarized in a generation," Ben Smith said at Semafor, and maybe the upcoming "bidding war between the parties for Latino and Black votes" will put "pressure on Republicans not to do anything that could chase its new allies away."

What next?

Democrats need to flip four seats for control of the House, and "it's going to come down to the West Coast," Cook Political Report's Erin Covey said to The Wall Street Journal. As of this morning it's "still a jump ball."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.