LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.– On Nov. 6, 2:34 a.m., former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump has won the United States 2024 Presidential Election after winning the swing state of Wisconsin. This makes Trump the second president to ever regain his seat in the White House with a non-consecutive win. The first to do this was Grover Cleveland in the 1893 election.
The current Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was favored to win the presidential election with the majority of polls showing her with a 1% to 2% lead over Trump according to Forbes. Historically, rural areas have voted Republican while urban areas have voted Democratic. This trend was seen once again in the 2024 election with strong support for Trump coming from rural areas, according to The Guardian.
California, a historically Democratic state, voted 57.3% Democratic and 40.1% Republican according to AP News. As of Nov. 6, there were 295 electoral votes for Donald Trump and 226 for Kamala Harris. Arizona and Nevada have yet to submit their votes.
“Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have not done a huge amount of camping in our state because to be honest there isn’t much about our state as a whole on how its going to vote,” said Los Alamitos High School government teacher, Ms. Reigert.
Following his win, Trump gave a 26-minute victory speech outside of his Florida home to a crowd of supporters. Trump talked about the value of his win and thanked his supporters and family. He promised to create a “golden age” in America. He also thanked each swing state that got him over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win.
“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” said Trump.
Harris gave a concession speech at her former college, Howard University. While speaking, Harris asked her supporters to accept the election results and called for a peaceful transfer of power. Harris expressed her gratitude towards her campaign staff and everyone who voted for her. Her speech came in the hours following her phone call with Trump to congratulate him on his victory.
“A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results,” Harris said. “That principle as much as any other distinguishes democracy from monarchy and tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.”
Following the election results, multiple false claims have been made online. One of these claims is that Biden won 20 million more votes in 2020 than Harris did in 2024, proving that there was either fraud four years ago or Trump cheated. These claims are false as Arizona and Nevada have yet to submit their votes so any comparisons to previous elections would be false.
“Election officials and agencies monitoring the vote have reported no significant issues with Tuesday’s election. Claims of widespread fraud in 2020 have been debunked countless times,” said Melissa Goldins from AP News.
Young people are especially frustrated over Trump’s win. This can be reflected in the dozens of protests held in college towns such as a recent protest at the University of California Berkeley. The Trump campaign attempted to gain men’s votes while the Harris campaign tried to gain the support of young women.
“I hear a lot of people complaining about how old our government is right now, but I think few consider how voting can change that,” said senior Phoenix Huynh. “Young people are the most underrepresented demographic in elections, but our vote matters just as much as an older person’s vote does.”
