Election 2024 recap: Harris concedes the election

“There won’t be any new states admitted to give a partisan advantage to the other side, and we’ll quit beating up the Supreme Court every time we don’t like a decision they make,” he said. So I think this shifting to a Republican Senate majority helps control the guardrails to keep people who want to change the rules in order to achieve something they think is worthwhile, not successful. And so I think the filibuster is very secure.”

− Sudiksha Kochi

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had a “warm and cordial” conversation with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday and was among the first world leaders to speak with him after his election victory. Netanyahu said they spoke about Israel’s security and “the Iranian threat.”

Trump has long been close to Netanyahu and in his first term was widely viewed as one of the most pro-Israel U.S. presidents of modern times. Trump broke with years of U.S. policy when he moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which Palestinians also claim as their future capital. It’s not immediately clear how Trump will deal the war in Gaza.

Dozens of leaders and U.S. allies released statements expressing well wishes and congratulations after Trump won the election. Among them was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country is trying to determine whether Trump’s White House will cut back on U.S. military aid for Ukraine or nudge it toward a peace deal with Russia.

“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs,” Zelenskyy said. “This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer.”

− Kim Hjelmgaard

Four years ago, Trump by most measures was a political pariah. Now he’s a president in waiting. Rising from the ashes after a bonfire of scandal fueled by four criminal prosecutions, two impeachments and a failed insurrection, Trump swept aside dire warnings that he could bring American democracy to an end and instead used the democratic system as the ultimate vindication.

Now he will become the second president in history − the first since Grover Cleveland more than century ago − to serve nonconsecutive terms.

A politician rejected by voters in 2020 and abandoned by many in his party after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump is poised to again become the most powerful man in the world. The convicted felon is now the incoming commander in chief.

Weeks of polling had showed the candidates competing in a razor-close election, but in the end Trump won over enough pivotal states with his focus on inflation and immigration. Harris won much of the West Coast and Northeast and Trump clinched victories in the South. But Trump also picked up North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, pushing him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes to win the race. Read more here on how Trump’s historic comeback happened.

− Zac Anderson

The election victory will delay and possibly wipe out Trump’s four pending criminal cases, according to legal experts. Trump has made clear he would derail the efforts of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith in his two federal cases. And action in two state cases in New York and Georgia are likely to be postponed until he is done serving in the White House.

“I think we are in uncharted territory,” said Alexander Reinert, a Cardozo School of Law professor, said of the state cases.

Trump has said he could fire Smith or pardon himself. “It’s so easy − I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Oct. 24.

What the election results mean for you: Sign up for USA TODAY’s On Politics newsletter for updates and exclusive analysis.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought many of Donald Trump’s controversial policies during his first administration, said Wednesday that it already has a plan for Trump’s next term. The ACLU was the first group in 2017 to challenge Trump’s ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries, one of 434 legal actions it took against the first Trump administration.

This time, Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said the ACLU is ready to fight Trump’s vow to seek retribution against his enemies, to launch a “mass deportation” of at least 11 million immigrants living in the United States without authorization and other promises.

“We are ready to take action the minute Trump takes the oath of office,” Romero said in a statement. “When President-elect Trump targets immigrants, dissidents and his political opponents we will challenge him in the courts, in state legislatures and in the streets.”

Vice president-elect JD Vance thanked supporters after he and Trump claimed victory early Wednesday morning. And his mother, Beverly Aikins, returned to Facebook on Wednesday to celebrate her son’s win. Aikins took a break from social media in July after seeing “vitriol and hate” toward her son, including from critics in Vance’s hometown of Middletown, where she still lives.

“Too big to rig,” she wrote. “Popular vote by more than five million. Two hundred seventy seven electoral votes and still counting. Trump Vance 2024.”

− Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer

Bomb threats believed to be emanating from Russia interrupted voting Tuesday across numerous battleground states, but a top U.S. cybersecurity official said they didn’t have a material impact on the election or voters’ ability to cast their ballots. Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a midnight press briefing that Tuesday’s election did see some “minor” disruptive activities, including polling station evacuations and delays.

Easterly and other officials said the hoax bomb threats were sent to at least four states and were all deemed to be “non-credible.”

“The point is this did not impact the ability of voters to cast their ballots or for their votes to be counted as cast,” Easterly said, commending the election officials on the ground in the states. “Ultimately they were able to demonstrate extensive resilience based on their preparations for it. … Overall I would call this a good news story for democracy.”

Eight states approved constitutional amendments or ballot initiatives Tuesday to prohibit noncitizens from voting, a key Republican priority even though state and federal laws already prohibit it and despite studies showing it almost never happens. All the states adopted the measures by 2-1 margins or better. The constitutional amendments typically approved a very simple change of phrasing about citizens voting to add “only” citizens may vote.

North Carolina and Wisconsin were key swing states that each adopted constitutional amendments. Other states were Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in our elections,” Michael Whatley, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, said when filing lawsuits against states to prevent noncitizen voting. “Yet time and again, we have seen Democrat officials oppose basic safeguards and dismantle election integrity provisions, intentionally opening the door to non-citizen voting in our elections.”

Studies by the Brennan Center for Justice and the libertarian Cato Institute have found noncitizen voting is essentially nonexistent. A Georgia audit of voter rolls this year found 20 noncitizens among 8.2 million registered voters.

Hear how the world is reacting to Donald Trump’s presidential win

Political leaders and residents of many countries have voiced their opinion on Donald Trump’s win.

Harris’ candidacy demonstrated much of the advantages women have when they run for office, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. She was a formidable fundraiser. She connected with voters on issues important to her and to them. Her identify gave her a unique perspective on overlooked issues, the research center said in a statement Wednesday.

But the race also exemplified research that shows obstacles female candidates face, primarily unequal expectations. That’s particularly true for women of color, the center said. While women have held nearly every political office in America, they still hold fewer than a third of all political seats at every level of office – and still haven’t reached the highest office in the land.

“Progress is not inevitable,” the center said. “We have made great strides, yes, but there are many steps left on the path to parity.”

Trump has run for president three times, winning the office in 2016 and now in 2024. So, can he run again in 2028? The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits one person from serving more than two terms as president.

All presidents served no more than two terms until Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected president four times from 1932 to 1944. In 1947, two years after Roosevelt’s death, a push began in the House of Representative to limit presidents to two terms. After some revisions by the Senate, the proposed amendment was approved and sent out to states, It was rtified on Feb. 27, 1951.

− Chad Murphy, Cincinnati Enquirer

From pariah to president: From pariah to president: Donald Trump rises from the ashes to reclaim the White House

An appearance on ABC’s “The View” last month provided a friendly forum for Harris  to introduce herself to Americans unfamiliar with her story. But Harris struggled to explain what she would do differently than President Joe Biden. “Not a thing that comes to mind,” the incumbent vice president told the hosts.

Following Trump’s victory over Harris, that television moment underscored a fatal flaw of Harris’ campaign that doomed her election bid – an inability to separate herself from an unpopular president whose approval ratings have hovered around 40% for most of his four years in the White House. Read more details on why her pitch as a “new generation of leadership” failed to win over the nation.

− Joey Garrison

Has Harris conceded? What to know after Trump won the White House

Trump won the first swing state called on election night, North Carolina. He also notched victories in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The former president also picked up Republican strongholds across the country on Tuesday, from Texas to Montana and South Carolina. He won a few states that used to be swing states but have trended further to the right in recent years, including Ohio and Florida.

How Kamala Harris lost the election: The fatal flaws in a doomed election bid

Harris picked up Democratic strongholds across the country, from California to New York and Illinois. She also easily notched several New England states such as Vermont and Massachusetts, as well as the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.