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Trump wins the 2024 presidential election

6 November 2024 · written 8 June 2026

On 5 November 2024 the United States held the 60th quadrennial presidential election. At 5:34 a.m. eastern standard time on 6 November the Associated Press projected former President Donald J. Trump (R) and Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as winners over Vice President Kamala D. Harris (D) and Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.); the 5:34 a.m. race call came with AP’s projection of Wisconsin, whose 10 electoral votes put Trump-Vance past the 270-vote threshold (AP had called Pennsylvania at approximately 2:25 a.m. the same night).1 The final Electoral College result was 312 votes for Trump-Vance to 226 for Harris-Walz (AP’s Arizona call, completing the map, came on 9 November); AP’s certified-final popular-vote totals (published after state canvasses through 11 December 2024) recorded Trump at approximately 49.8 per cent (about 77.3 million votes) to Harris at approximately 48.3 per cent (about 75.0 million votes), with the meeting of the electors held 17 December 2024 and joint-session Congressional certification on 6 January 2025.234 Vice President Harris conceded by telephone to President-elect Trump on the afternoon of 6 November and delivered a public concession address at Howard University in Washington, D.C. at approximately 4 p.m. eastern time the same day, telling supporters that “the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”56 Trump will be the 47th president on the count that treats Grover Cleveland’s two non-consecutive terms as the 22nd and 24th presidencies, and the first president since Cleveland (1892) to be elected to a second, non-consecutive term.7

  1. The 270-vote Electoral College threshold (out of 538 total, including the District of Columbia’s three electors apportioned by the Twenty-third Amendment) was projected to pass for Trump-Vance in the hours after polls closed, on the AP projections of Pennsylvania (19 electors), Michigan (15) and — the clinching call — Wisconsin (10).28 Trump-Vance was projected to carry all seven of the states commonly identified as swing states in pre-election coverage: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.9 The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-328, div. P) — the first significant restructuring of the 3 U.S.C. §§ 1-21 joint-session procedures since the 1887 Electoral Count Act — provides at 3 U.S.C. § 15(b)(2) that the Vice President’s role at the joint session is limited, and that the Vice President “shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper certificate of ascertainment.”10

  2. Concurrent elections to the U.S. Senate are projected to return a Republican majority for the 119th Congress on a 53-47 split, with the 47-senator Democratic caucus comprising 45 Democrats and the two Democratic-caucusing independents (Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine).11 Republican net gains reflect four flips: Pennsylvania (David McCormick over Senator Bob Casey, D); Ohio (Bernie Moreno over Senator Sherrod Brown, D); Montana (Tim Sheehy over Senator Jon Tester, D); and West Virginia (Governor Jim Justice, R, for the open seat following Senator Joe Manchin’s retirement).11 Concurrent elections to the U.S. House of Representatives are projected to return a narrow Republican majority for the 119th Congress, with final composition pending tallies in close races on the West Coast as of 6 November.12 The combined Senate, House and presidential outcomes constitute unified Republican control of the White House and both chambers for the 119th Congress, beginning at noon eastern standard time on 3 January 2025 under the Twentieth Amendment.13

  3. The presidential transition period runs from the AP race call on 6 November 2024 to noon eastern standard time on 20 January 2025 under the Twentieth Amendment, with statutory transition support provided by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, Pub. L. 88-277, as amended (most recently by the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022).14 Under § 3 of the Act, codified at 3 U.S.C. § 102 note, the Administrator of General Services ascertains the apparent successful candidate and makes statutory office space, funding and federal-agency cooperation available to the Trump-Vance transition team; the Federal Bureau of Investigation processes security clearances for transition personnel on a request-and-vetting basis.15 The 75-day transition period feeds the Trump-Vance personnel pipeline for the approximately 1,200 Senate- confirmable positions and about 4,000 total political- appointee positions in the federal executive branch (per the “Plum Book,” the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions publication).16

Footnotes

  1. Associated Press, race call for the 2024 presidential election in favour of Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance at 5:34 a.m. EST on 6 November 2024 on the Wisconsin projection (Pennsylvania called approximately 2:25 a.m.); AP explanatory wire, “Why AP called Wisconsin — and the White House — for Donald Trump,” 6 November 2024. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/why-ap-called-wisconsin-and-the-white-house-for-donald-trump ↩

  2. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, “2024 Electoral College Results” (Electoral College certificates received from the states; meeting of the electors 17 December 2024; joint-session certification 6 January 2025). https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/2024 ↩ ↩2

  3. Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, Pub. L. 117-328, div. P, codified principally at 3 U.S.C. §§ 1-21 (state-canvass certification deadline of “the day before the date of the meeting of electors” — for 2024, 11 December 2024; meeting of the electors 17 December 2024; joint session of Congress for certification 6 January 2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ328/pdf/PLAW-117publ328.pdf ↩

  4. Certified-final 2024 presidential election tallies: approximately 77.3 million votes / 49.8 per cent for Trump-Vance and approximately 75.0 million votes / 48.3 per cent for Harris-Walz; Electoral College 312-226 per the National Archives certified record (Maine split 3-1 for Harris; Nebraska 4-1 for Trump). https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/2024 ↩

  5. Vice President Kamala D. Harris, public concession address at Howard University, Washington, D.C., approximately 4 p.m. eastern standard time on 6 November 2024 (“the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting”). The White House page cited here returns 404 and no successor was found by site search on 17 September 2026; the Wayback Machine was rate-limiting throughout and could not confirm an archived copy either way. The dead link is removed rather than redirected to a section index. Tracked at debt whitehouse-june-2025-readouts. ↩

  6. Vice President Harris’s concession call to President-elect Trump on the afternoon of Wednesday 6 November 2024, attributed to senior Harris campaign aides, ahead of her Howard University address at approximately 4 p.m. EST. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/harris-calls-trump-to-congratulate-him-on-2024-presidential-win ↩

  7. White House Historical Association, biographical entries for Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th president of the United States, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897; the 1892 election was the prior instance of a former president elected to a non-consecutive term). https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/grover-cleveland ↩

  8. U.S. Constitution, Twenty-third Amendment (apportioning to the District of Columbia a number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of senators and representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state — three electors). https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-23/ ↩

  9. Pre-election characterisations of the seven states commonly identified as swing states in 2024 — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — based on pre-election polling and party-organisation targeting; Cook Political Report pre-election ratings; National Archives certified state-by-state results. https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/presidential-race-ratings ↩

  10. Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, Pub. L. 117-328, div. P (restructuring 3 U.S.C. §§ 1-21 governing the joint session of Congress for Electoral College certification); 3 U.S.C. § 15(b)(2) provides that the Vice President “shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper certificate of ascertainment, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.” https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title3-section15&edition=prelim ↩

  11. U.S. Senate, projected composition for the 119th Congress: 53 Republican senators and a 47-senator Democratic caucus comprising 45 Democrats and the two Democratic-caucusing independents (Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine). Republican net gains include flips in Pennsylvania (David McCormick over Senator Bob Casey, D), Ohio (Bernie Moreno over Senator Sherrod Brown, D), Montana (Tim Sheehy over Senator Jon Tester, D) and West Virginia (Governor Jim Justice, R, for the open seat following Senator Joe Manchin’s retirement). https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm ↩ ↩2

  12. U.S. House of Representatives, 119th Congress projected composition (Republican majority; final composition pending tallies in close races on the West Coast as of 6 November 2024). State election authorities certify House results under state law during the November-December canvass; the Clerk of the House calls the opening roll on 3 January 2025 under House Rule II. https://clerk.house.gov/ ↩

  13. U.S. Constitution, Twentieth Amendment (setting noon eastern time on 3 January as the constitutional start of each new Congress, and noon eastern time on 20 January as the start of each presidential term). https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-20/ ↩

  14. Presidential Transition Act of 1963, Pub. L. 88-277, 78 Stat. 153, as amended most recently by the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, Pub. L. 117-328, div. P (transition-period statutory framework for office space, funding, and federal-agency cooperation with the President-elect). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg153.pdf ↩

  15. Presidential Transition Act of 1963 § 3, codified at 3 U.S.C. § 102 note (Administrator of General Services ascertains the apparent successful candidate after the election; § 3(c) governs the ascertainment determination). https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title3-section102&edition=prelim ↩

  16. United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (the “Plum Book”), published quadrennially by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability or the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (lists the federal political-appointee positions available to a new administration; approximately 1,200 Senate-confirmable and about 4,000 total political-appointee positions). https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/plum-book ↩

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