Donald Trump is elected president in historic upset
Republican Donald Trump pulled off a historic upset Tuesday when he was elected the 45th president of the United States of America. The billionaire businessman, who never before held elected office, caused a political earthquake when he crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold at 2:31 a.m. ET, stunning pollsters, politicos, and financial markets across the globe. Taking the stage in the early hours of the morning to make an acceptance speech, Trump said Clinton had called him to offer her congratulations and to concede the race. “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division and get together,” he told supporters in the New York City crowd. “It is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.” Trump’s victory defied late polls showing his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton with a modest, albeit persistent, edge. It also brought uncertainty to the world’s financial markets, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling as much as 500 points in after-hours trading. More than 110 million votes had been counted in the presidential race by 2:30 a.m. ET, with millions more outstanding.
Elbowing each other all the way, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton near finish
Closing out a wildly unpredictable White House race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump blitzed through battleground states Monday in a final bid to energize supporters. Clinton urged voters to embrace a “hopeful, inclusive, bighearted America,” while Trump called for supporters to “beat the corrupt system.” The candidates rallied voters late into the night, a frenzied end to a bitter election year that has laid bare the nation’s deep economic and cultural divides. Clinton campaigned with confidence, buoyed by FBI Director James Comey‘s announcement Sunday that he would not recommend criminal charges against her following a new email review. The inquiry had sapped a surging Clinton momentum at a crucial moment in the race, though she still heads into Election Day with multiple paths to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the nation’s first female president. “I think I have some work to do to bring the country together,” she acknowledged as she boarded her plane for her last battleground tour. “I really do want to be the president for everybody.” Looking beyond Election Day, Clinton said in a radio interview that she hopes Trump will play a “constructive role” in helping bring the country together if she defeats him. Trump at times struck a nostalgic tone during his final round of rallies, recalling the rivals he’d vanquished and how far he’s come. As he surveyed the crowd in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he declared, “It’s been a long journey.” Still, Trump was aggressive to the end, slamming Clinton as the “face of failure.” Having made the new FBI review a centerpiece of his closing case to voters, he argued that the Democrat was being protected by a “totally rigged system.” “You have one magnificent chance to beat the corrupt system and deliver justice,” Trump said. “Do not let this opportunity slip away.” The comments were a reminder that Comey’s news, delivered in a letter to lawmakers on Sunday, was a doubled-edged sword for Clinton. While it vindicated her claims that the emails would not yield new evidence, it ensured that a controversy that has dogged her campaign from the start would follow her through Election Day. Across the country, nearly 24 million early ballots were cast under the shadow of Comey’s initial announcement of a new email review. That number represents about half of the nearly 45 million people who had cast votes by Monday, according to Associated Press data. The inquiry involved material found on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman and estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide. Comey said Sunday the FBI reviewed communications “to or from Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state.” Clinton tried to fly above the controversy Monday, making no mention of the FBI during her rallies. The centerpiece of her final day of campaigning was a nighttime event in Philadelphia with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, along with rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. Nearing the end of his two terms in the White House, Obama was sentimental as he launched his own busy day of events, noting that he was probably making his last campaign swing for the foreseeable future. “Whatever credibility I have earned after eight years as president, I am asking you to trust me on this. I am voting for Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. Clinton is banking in part on high turnout – particularly among Obama’s young, diverse coalition of voters – to carry her over the finish line Tuesday. Roughly half the states with advance voting have reported record turnout, including Florida and Nevada, which have booming Hispanic populations, a possible good sign for Clinton. In Florida alone, Hispanic participation is up by more than 453,000 votes, nearly doubling the 2012 level. Black turnout is up compared to 2012, but that share of the total vote is lower due to bigger jumps among Latinos and whites, according to University of Florida professor Daniel Smith In Nevada, where more than three-fourths of expected ballots have been cast, Democrats also lead, 42 percent to 36 percent. Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie downplayed the impact of increased Hispanic participation, telling reporters on a conference call, “We feel that we’re going to get a good share of those votes.” However, he sidestepped two questions about the level of Hispanic vote Trump needs to win the presidency. Without victories in Florida and Nevada, Trump’s path to 270 electoral votes would be exceedingly narrow. He already must win nearly all of the roughly dozen battleground states. Trump had planned to keep up his breakneck travel schedule deep into Election Day, but aides revised plans, keeping the businessman in New York. Midway through his final day of travel Monday, Trump praised his supporters for having created a “movement.” But he warned it would all slip away if he loses Tuesday. “Go vote,” he urged. “Or honestly, we’ve all wasted our time.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
How AP rates the presidential race and the Road to 270
In the final days of the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton holds advantages over Donald Trump in just enough states to win her the White House – if she can hold them on Election Day. But Clinton’s national lead appears to have narrowed in the last two weeks, and Clinton’s winning map appears more fragile than it once did. The Associated Press this week moves New Hampshire from leaning Democratic to a toss-up, Arizona and Iowa from a toss-up to leaning Republican, Virginia from strong Democratic to leaning Democratic, and Texas from leaning Republican to strong Republican. The analysis is of the map as it stands today. It considers preference polling, recent electoral history, demographic trends and campaign priorities such as advertising, travel and on-the-ground staff. — SOLID DEMOCRATIC: California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state (200 total electoral votes). LEANS DEMOCRATIC: Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia (74 total electoral votes). TOSS-UP: Florida, Maine 2nd District, Nebraska 2nd District, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah (74 total electoral votes). LEANS REPUBLICAN: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri (46 total electoral votes). SOLID REPUBLICAN: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wyoming (144 total electoral votes). — Want to chart your own path along the Road to 270? Figure out how Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton can get the Electoral College votes they’ll need to win the White House with AP’s interactive map: https://elections.ap.org/content/road-270-0 Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Most routes to 270 blocked for Donald Trump, needs last-ditch surge
The race for president reaches its final mile next week amid October surprises, but on the road to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, Hillary Clinton still has several ways to find her way to Washington. The journey Donald Trump must take is perilous, at best. Even as some national preference polls tighten, and voters wrestle with news the FBI has found new emails that may – or may not – be related to Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state, the billionaire Republican needs a dramatic final-stretch rebound in states where the Democratic nominee appears to have the upper hand. The latest Associated Press analysis of the Electoral College map rates states worth 278 electoral votes as safely Democratic or leaning Clinton’s way. That analysis is based on preference polling, recent electoral history, demographic trends and campaign priorities such as advertising, travel and on-the-ground staff. In short, that means Clinton doesn’t need to win a state now rated as a toss-up to win the White House. Trump needs to win them all – and then go on to pick off some states that are now in Clinton’s column. Impossible, it’s not. The effects of the FBI Director James Comey‘s Friday letter to Congress, informing lawmakers of developments possibly related to the Clinton email case, may not be known until Election Day itself. Trump leapt on the news this weekend, but so, too, did Clinton, casting Comey’s decision to act so close to Nov. 8 as “deeply troubling” as she sought to rally Democratic voters. So, then, what is the path for Trump to chin himself to 270 votes? He’ll have to start by carrying the reliably Republican states in the West, the Great Plains and in South that make up the GOP’s Electoral College base. From there, he’d need a run of victories in states now viewed as a toss-up. Among them, North Carolina has received as much attention from both campaigns as any – traditional battlegrounds Florida and Ohio included. For good reason: GOP nominee Mitt Romney won the state in 2012, after President Barack Obama’s historic win there in 2008. But after trailing in mail ballots, Democrats surged ahead of Republicans in ballots cast after the start of in-person early voting last week. Meanwhile, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gives Clinton a 6-point edge in the state. A win in North Carolina, and Florida and Ohio, too, still isn’t enough to get Trump to 270. He also needs to win states now leaning Clinton’s way. In Nevada, Trump’s hardline position on immigration has turned off many in the state’s large Hispanic population – giving Clinton an advantage. Likewise, tens of thousands more Democrats than Republicans had voted early in the state as of last week. In New Hampshire, the state’s politics are disproportionately influenced by women: the state’s governor, two senators and a majority of its state Senate are women. Trump has long struggled with college-educated women, a situation made worse by a string of recent allegations of unwanted sexual advances or sexual assault involving the Republican. “At this point, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Trump to win the state of New Hampshire. He’s running out of time,” said Ryan Williams, a GOP consultant in the state, echoing others. “He’s going to lose.” All of these scenarios also assume Trump carries each of the states his party’s nominees have won for decades – a firewall in which cracks are starting to appear. In Arizona, where Republican nominees have won all but once since 1952, Clinton has begun a late-game $2-million advertising blitz and tapped into a robust state Democratic organization. She has pulled even with Trump in some surveys, and slightly ahead in others, while early voting favors Democrats, as does the state’s large and growing Hispanic population. Clinton is scheduled to campaign there this week, following first lady Michelle Obama’s large rally in Phoenix two weeks ago. Trump also cannot count on Utah, carried by a Republican in the past 12 elections. Independent candidate Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer from Utah, is running even in the state, where the GOP nominee is unpopular with the state’s influential Mormon population. But perhaps the most surprising development has been increasingly competitive signs in Texas. Three polls in the past two weeks have shown Clinton within five percentage points of Trump The Lone Star State isn’t the lightest shade of blue on even the most hopeful Democrat’s map. But Richard Murray, the political science professor at University of Houston who conducts the school’s presidential poll, said the factors helping Clinton in Arizona and North Carolina do so in Texas, too. Clinton has the support of nearly two-thirds of the state’s Hispanic voters, who have swelled voter ranks since the 2012 election. And Trump’s comments and alleged actions toward women have chilled his support among typically conservative, college-educated white women in the Houston and Dallas suburbs, Murray said. “Donald Trump is so off the charts, he’s wiped out 20 years of (GOP) outreach not only to Latinos, but Texas’ growing Asian vote,” Murray said. “Given the voting we’re seeing, Clinton will run within five percentage points of Trump. That is, if she loses.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
