WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It was the equivalent of a political earthquake. Former President Donald Trump’s historic White House win reverberated Wednesday through Washington and the nation after an astonishing comeback that upended political expectations, pollsters and the party elite.
One day after the election, Mr. Trump’s shocking, likely sweep of battleground states and unexpected popular vote victory over Vice President Kamala Harris became more evident. It showed that his triumph rattled down the ballot, helping Republicans capture the Senate and putting them on track to hold on to the House.
The Republican Party, largely neutered over the past four years, rode Mr. Trump’s popularity to a likely Republican sweep of government, which will increase its prospects for implementing the president-elect’s proposals to lower taxes, reduce regulation, ramp up energy production, cut spending and shrink the size of government.
Grudging acceptance by his staunchest opponents had settled in by Wednesday, partly because Mr. Trump, now planning his second term from his Mar-a-Lago home, won much sooner and more decisively than almost anyone expected.
Ms. Harris called the former president to concede Wednesday, ahead of her speech to disappointed supporters at Howard University in the District of Columbia. She congratulated Mr. Trump.
“President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.
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For both parties, the clear-cut results quickly reset the political landscape in Washington.
There was no counting ballots for days or lawsuits dragging out close results.
By 3 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Trump had won the race after crushing Ms. Harris in the battleground states and coming startlingly close to overtaking deep-blue areas of the country. By Wednesday evening, only the battlegrounds of Nevada and Arizona had yet to be called, and Mr. Trump was leading in both states.
Mr. Trump lost New Jersey by only 4 percentage points, and he flipped many blue counties, including Miami-Dade in Florida.
His wins in the swing states were substantial.
Mr. Trump surpassed Ms. Harris by nearly 140,000 votes in Pennsylvania, a state pollsters declared deadlocked a day before the election.
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He surpassed her by nearly 120,000 votes in Georgia, where, like Pennsylvania, he narrowly lost in 2020.
As of late Wednesday, Mr. Trump had secured 295 electoral votes, 25 more than needed to win, and he was on track to surpass 300.
It was a landslide.
Wednesday brought shock and self-reflection from stunned Democrats and euphoria for Republicans over the size and scope of Mr. Trump’s victory.
“It seemed unthinkable in March 2023,” Trump ally and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said. “Now it’s reality.”
The stock market surged 1,508 points, hitting a record high of 43,730.
The president-elect’s transition team, which has been meeting for weeks, is busy readying a second Trump administration while House and Senate Republicans plot legislation they can move through both chambers and send to his desk.
A measure to extend expiring individual tax cuts, which could include additional tax reductions, is likely to be handled first.
“We have saved America,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican. “We are ready to get to work for the American people.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and longtime Trump opponent who ultimately endorsed his candidacy, congratulated the incoming president. He noted that Mr. Trump is the first to win a nonconsecutive, second presidential term since 1892.
“What he’s accomplished has not been done since Grover Cleveland,” Mr. McConnell said.
He complimented Mr. Trump’s campaign “for running a sharper operation this time.”
Mr. Trump lost narrowly to President Biden in 2020, sparking national unrest and the Republican’s claim that the election was rigged.
Mr. Trump would not concede the race four years ago, and critics, including Mr. McConnell, blamed his rhetoric for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Mr. Trump had urged demonstrators to march “peacefully and patriotically.”
Now, Mr. Trump’s political resurrection is complete. He helped Mr. McConnell, who is stepping down from two decades of leadership, achieve his goal of handing off a Republican Senate majority to his successor.
Mr. Biden, who was forced off the 2024 ticket in favor of Ms. Harris, called Mr. Trump on Wednesday to congratulate and invite him to the White House to plan the transition.
The result was a resounding defeat of Mr. Biden’s vice president and his policies, which critics say led to near-historic inflation levels, rising interest rates and an explosion of overseas conflicts.
“Listen, they are going to blame this on Harris,” Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell said. “She wasn’t a perfect candidate, but let’s be honest, she probably did as well as she could. She saved Democrats from an even bigger R landslide. Biden and the Democrats made this mess.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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