Republican Donald Trump has won the 2016 presidential election and will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in January.
Trump finished the divisive election with 276 electoral votes winning almost all of the major battleground states. A candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win.
Florida once again played a pivotal role on Election Day. It was a must-win state for the Republican candidate. Without it his path to 270 was nearly statistically impossible. As election day coverage began early Tuesday morning, one of the biggest headlines of the day was the huge Latino voter turnout, but as election night rolled on, it became clear that the large Hispanic turnout was matched and overcome by rural white voters coming out in huge numbers.
Along with Florida, Trump captured Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Iowa. Trump’s appeal also spread into the West where he won Arizona, but lost the highly contested state of Nevada.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton also won the battleground states of Virginia and Colorado.
Despite winning enough votes in the electoral college, Trump (as of press) lost the nationwide popular vote by a razor-thin margin with barely a 100,000-vote difference. That number may have been accurately reflected in analyst predictions leading up to the election, which mostly showed Clinton with a slight advantage. She may have received more votes, but not where they mattered most.
Trump’s victory delays the potentially historic moment of the U.S. electing a woman to the nation’s highest office. Many were hoping Clinton was the one to break through that glass ceiling.
Trump will succeed President Barack Obama, who has served in the oval office since January 2009.
