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Republican Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.

Republicans reclaimed control of the Senate, picking up seats in West Virginia and Ohio. Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years.

Trump completes ‘Blue Wall’ sweep, just as he did in 2016

With Donald Trump’s victory in Michigan, he completes a sweep of the Great Lakes “Blue Wall� states that Kamala Harris had considered her smoothest path to victory.

Trump managed the same sweep of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2016, when he defeated Hillary Clinton. President Joe Biden outpaced Trump in those states in 2020.

Unlike Clinton’s campaign in 2016, Harris campaigned heavily across the region through September and October. The vice president spent all day Sunday in Michigan, but she was unable to match Biden’s level of support, most notably in Wayne County, where Detroit offers a trove of Democratic votes.

Trump was active in the region, as well, and he improved on his 2020 margins across the three key states.

Donald Trump’s election is historic — in more ways than one

Donald Trump’s election victory was history-making in several respects, even as his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris prevented other firsts. She would have been the nation’s first Black and South Asian woman to be president.

1. He’s the oldest to be elected

2. It’s the second time someone has won two non-consecutive terms

3. He is in line to become the first U.S. president with a felony conviction

4. He’s been impeached (twice)

Some voters want less government say on vaccines, as Trump promises RFK Jr. big role

A contingent of U.S. voters signaled they want the government to be less involved in vaccinating children for diseases, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide.

In the final weeks of the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump had stepped up appearances with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., promising the vaccine skeptic free reign in his administration to investigate childhood diseases like obesity and autism. Kennedy has urged his followers to flout the U.S. government’s current vaccine recommendations for their children.

About 2 in 10 voters said they want less government involvement in childhood vaccinations. Of those voters, roughly 8 in 10 voted for Trump.

CISA director: ‘No evidence of any malicious activity’ affecting the security, integrity of the election

Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, on Wednesday praised the work of state and local election officials and the hundreds of thousands who served as poll workers on Election Day.

“As we have said repeatedly, our election infrastructure has never been more secure and the election community never better prepared to deliver safe, secure, free, and fair elections for the American people,� Easterly said. “This is what we saw yesterday in the peaceful and secure exercise of democracy.�

The nation’s capital — and its construction workers — are already preparing for a transfer of power

For all of the heady talk of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, a presidential transition also involves things that are less conceptual — and more mundane.

That includes construction of all the temporary structures for the presidential inauguration.

In front of the White House, workers had fenced a section of Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Park as they constructed the Presidential Inaugural Parade Reviewing Stands. The temporary pavilion is where Trump and his family will take in the parade as it winds in front of the White House on Jan. 20.

On the National Mall, work has also begun on the inauguration platform, from where Trump will be sworn into office and address the nation. Nearly four years ago, on Jan. 6, Trump supporters rushed the Capitol and used pieces of the half-built structure to attack police officers. Workers on the site had to flee.

This year, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle gathered in September to drive the first nails for the structures, symbolizing the unity they aspired to forge amidst a divisive presidential campaign.

How do the 2024 numbers compare to 2020?

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris received a record of over 80 million votes to win the White House in 2020. They beat Donald Trump and Mike Pence, who received over 74 million votes.

This year so far, the Democratic ticket has received only 66 million.

Meanwhile. Trump and Vance have received over 71 million votes as of Wednesday morning.

In 2020, Biden and Harris won the majority of the Electoral College with 306 votes, the identical margin Trump won back in 2016. This year, Trump clinched the nomination with 277 electoral votes, with 37 votes still up for grabs.

A unified Republican grip on Washington would set the course for Trump’s agenda

But if Democrats wrest control of the House, it would provide an almost certain backstop, with veto power over the White House.

Trump, speaking early Wednesday at his election night party in Florida, said the results delivered an “unprecedented and powerful mandate� for Republicans.

He called the Senate rout “incredible.� And he praised House Speaker Mike Johnson, who dashed from his own party in Louisiana to join Trump. “He’s doing a terrific job,� Trump said.

Vote counting in some races could go on for days and control of the House is too early to call.

Norwegian group: Trump’s election means US ‘will no longer be a driving force’ in climate fight

Norwegian Bellona environmental group said that “with the election of Donald Trump, the United States will no longer be a driving force globally to reach the 1.5 Celsius target,� referencing the international goal of trying to limit future warming since preindustrial times.

The outcome means the European Union “must take the global leadership role in the climate fight, and to a significantly greater extent ensure the defense of Europe’s strategic interests,� the group said.

“The EU will now become significantly more important for climate, technology development and restructuring in the next four years,� Frederic Hauge, founder of the Oslo-based organization, said in a statement.

On Ukraine’s front and in Kyiv, hope and pragmatism compete when it comes to Trump’s election

Soldiers in a Ukrainian artillery battery on the front lines of the country’s east were only vaguely aware of American election results pointing to Donald Trump’s victory Wednesday — but firm in their hopes for the next president of the United States.

Their entrenched artillery battery fires on Russian forces daily — and takes fire nearly as often. Just the other day, one of their overhead nets snared a Russian drone.

“I hope that the quantity of weapons, the quantity of guns for our victory will increase,� the unit’s 39-year-old commander, who goes by the name Mozart, said in the hours before Trump’s win was confirmed. “We don’t care who is the president, as long as they don’t cut us off from help, because we need it.�

Though Trump’s election throws into doubt American support for Ukraine — and ultimately whether Kyiv can beat back Russia’s invasion — the soldiers who use their Starlink connection to the internet sparingly learned of the results from Associated Press journalists.

How are markets responding to the election results?

Futures markets in the U.S. surged early Wednesday, with the Dow climbing 2.85% and the S&P 500 rising nearly 2%.

Bitcoin, which many see as a winner under a Trump presidency, hit all-time highs above $75,000.

Tesla, the company run by Trump surrogate Elon Musk, spiked 12% before the opening bell while other electric vehicle makers slumped.

Banking stocks also moved solidly higher, with expectations of a pullback by regulators overseeing markets under Trump.

US humanitarian group urges Trump, Congress to ‘reject policies that demonize immigrants and asylum seekers’

The International Rescue Committee, a large humanitarian aid organization, urged the Trump administration to “continue America’s traditions of humanitarian leadership and care of the most vulnerable.�

The New York-based nonprofit also urged the new administration and Congress to “reject policies that demonize immigrants and asylum seekers,� and noted that the U.S. program to resettle refugees has saved lives and strengthened the fabric of the United States.

IRC is led by Britain’s former top diplomat, David Miliband, and says it provides relief services to people affected by crises in more than 40 countries.

Barriers broken and history made in several congressional races

With their victories, several candidates are set to be firsts.

New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat, won his race to become the first Korean American elected to the Senate.

Delaware State Rep. Sarah McBride, a Democrat, won her race to become the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. The former Obama administration official was elected to the Delaware General Assembly in 2021.

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks won her race and is set to become Maryland’s first Black senator. Alsobrooks is currently the county executive for Maryland’s Prince George’s County, one of the most prosperous Black-majority counties in the nation.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware, broke barriers again, becoming the first woman and first Black person elected to the Senate from the state. Seven years ago, when she was elected to the House, she was the first woman and first Black person to represent Delaware in the House. It will be the first time that two Black women will serve simultaneously in the Senate.

North Dakota elected its first woman to Congress. Republican Julie Fedorchak, running for the House of Representatives, won her race handily in the deep red state. She’s currently a member of the state’s public service commission.

Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio,defeated incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown to be the first Latino from the state elected to the Senate.

Bitcoin hits new high as investors bet Trump’s victory will benefit cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin jumped nearly 8% to a record $75,345.00 in early trading on Wednesday, before falling back and was recently trading at around $73,700.00.

Trump was previously a crypto skeptic but changed his mind and embraced cryptocurrencies ahead of the election.

He pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet� and create a “strategic reserve� of bitcoin. His campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency and he courted crypto fans at a bitcoin conference in July.

He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.

Abortion proposals win in 7 states

Despite major losses for Democrats in the Senate and White House, the party’s central campaign issue surrounding protecting reproductive rights fared much better across the country as abortion rights advocates won on measures in seven states.

The last state to pass such a measure by early Wednesday was Montana, where abortion rights advocates pushed to enshrine abortion rights until fetal viability into the state constitution as a safeguard against future rollbacks. Though there’s no defined time frame, doctors say viability is sometime after 21 weeks.

In three others — Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota — voters rejected measures that would have created a constitutional right to abortion.

From earlier:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump won Pennsylvania early Wednesday, putting him just three electoral votes shy of defeating Kamala Harris to win the White House.

As of 2 a.m. Central Wednesday, Trump has 267 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. A win in Alaska or any of the outstanding battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona or Nevada — would send the Republican former president back to the Oval Office.

Trump is leading in Michigan and Wisconsin, where his two clearest paths to victory rely on Harris not winning enough of the outstanding votes in Wayne and Milwaukee counties. The Associated Press is waiting on the next updates from both locations to determine whether Harris has any path to overtake Trump in either state.

Pennsylvania, a part of the once-reliable Democratic stronghold known as the “blue wall� with Michigan and Wisconsin, was carried by Trump when he first won the White House in 2016 and then flipped back to Democrats in 2020. Trump also flipped Georgia, which had voted for Democrats four years ago, and retained the closely contested state of North Carolina.

Trump’s gains sharply curtailed Harris’ path to victory.

Addressing his supporters early Wednesday from his campaign’s watch party in Florida, Trump said, “Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future.�

Trump added he was going to make people “very happy� and “very proud� of their vote.

“We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly,� Trump said. “We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country.�

The crowd at Harris’ watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, began to file out after midnight after a top Harris ally sent supporters home, with no plans for the Democratic vice president to speak.

“We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted. That every voice has spoken,� Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign said. “So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow. She will be back here tomorrow.�

Trump also won Florida, a one-time battleground that has shifted heavily to Republicans in recent elections. He also notched early wins in reliably Republican states such as Texas, South Carolina and Indiana. Harris won Virginia, a state Trump visited in the final days of the campaign, and took Democratic strongholds like New York, New Mexico and California. Harris also won New Hampshire and an Electoral College vote in Nebraska that was contested by Republicans.

The Trump campaign bet that it would cut into Democrats' traditional strength with Black and Latino voters, with the former president going on male-centric podcasts and making explicit racial appeals to both groups. Nationally, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Joe Biden four years ago, and Trump’s support among those voters appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020, according to AP VoteCast.

The fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Harris’ supporters, a sign that the Democratic nominee’s persistent messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through, according to the expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. It also found a country mired in negativity and desperate for change. Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign.

In another positive sign for the GOP, the party took control of the Senate, with Trump-backed Bernie Moreno flipping a seat in Ohio held by Democrat Sherrod Brown since 2007. They picked up another when Republican Jim Justice won a West Virginia seat that opened up with Sen. Joe Manchin’s retirement.

Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors. Federal election security officials said there were minor disruptions throughout the day but there was no evidence of any impact to the election system. Officials determined that bomb threats that were reported in multiple states were all not credible and did not impact the ability of voters to cast their ballots.

Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve as president. She also would be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 36 years.

Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.

He survived one assassination attempt by millimeters at a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.

Harris, pointing to the warnings of Trump's former aides, has labeled him a “fascist� and blamed Trump for putting women's lives in danger by nominating three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In the closing hours of the campaign, she tried to strike a more positive tone and went all of Monday without saying her Republican opponent's name.

Voters nationwide also were deciding thousands of other races that will decide everything from control of Congress to state ballot measures on abortion access in response to the Supreme Court’s vote in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In Florida, a ballot measure that would have protected abortion rights in the state constitution failed after not meeting the 60% threshold to pass, marking the first time a measure protecting abortion rights failed since Roe was overturned. Earlier Tuesday, Trump refused to say how he voted on the measure and snapped at a reporter, saying, “You should stop talking about that."

In reliably Democratic New York, Colorado and Maryland, voters approved ballot measures aimed at protecting abortion rights in their state constitutions.