Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States, clinching most of the swing states to score a decisive victory. The 45th President completed an unprecedented comeback as the Associated Press officially declared him the winner at 5:35 a.m. on Wednesday, November 6th. “We’re going to help our country heal. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve,” Trump addressed in his winning speech. “This will truly be the golden age of America,” he said, promising a more assertive ‘America first’ policy.

Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, gave a concession speech on Wednesday at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington DC. As she conceded to Trump,  Harris addressed her supporters to accept the results and advocated for the transfer of power to be peaceful. “While I concede the election, I do not concede the fight that fuelled this campaign,” Harris added, “I will close with this. Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel we are entering a dark time,” she said, “America if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, billion stars— the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service.”

After an eventful campaign, which involved incumbent President Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal in July and two assassination attempts, Trump defeated Harris with 277 of the Electoral College votes. Following the top concern of many voters, his second term will focus on economic policies, including targeted tariffs on imports and lower tax brackets. Despite his promise to deport the most significant number of undocumented immigrants in the country’s history, exit polls show he gathered votes from Harris’s traditional Latino supporters. Among his primary agenda was limiting climate protection and abortion rights as well. 

The GOP won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, establishing the path for laws advocating for the Republican agenda. Though his return could pose uncertainty in domestic and foreign policies, world leaders congratulated Trump on the win. Both Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered their early congratulations to Trump, and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hoped for “peaceful coexistence,” bracing for a global trade war.