Republican Party candidate Donald Trump scored a stunning upset in today’s presidential election in the US, claiming some key battleground states and winning the state of Pennsylvania to beat Democratic Party rival Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton.
Had Mrs. Clinton won, she would have made history by becoming the first woman to be elected president in the United States. Mrs. Clinton would also have become the first spouse of a former US president to win the country’s top political post. Her husband, former President William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton, served two terms as president from 1993 to 2001.
Results of nationwide polling in today’s election show that Mr. Trump has secured more than the 270 electoral college votes to claim victory in a bruising election that some analysts regard as one of the most divisive in the history of the US. Most presidential polls over the last few weeks had suggested that Mr. Trump would lose to Mrs. Clinton, his Democratic Party challenger. Controversies dogged Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign. He showcased an unorthodox political style and often denigrated his main opponent as well as TV hosts, disabled people, Mexicans, Muslims, and immigrants. A few weeks ago, a tape surfaced in which Mr. Trump was heard boasting of getting away with kissing and groping women.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign was often shadowed by an FBI investigation into her handling of classified information on her private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. In the end, FBI director James Comey twice announced that the agency found no grounds to file criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton.
The 70-year old Trump was seen as a long shot when he entered the Republican field of presidential candidates last year. But in an often-fractious campaign for the Republican Party nomination, he deployed a flair for edgy political rhetoric and sharp-tongued putdowns of his opponents to break out of the pack.
Mr. Trump became a politically controversial figure when he argued that President Barack Obama was not born within the continental United States and therefore was constitutionally disqualified from serving as president.
The president-elect, who made his fortune in real estate and casinos, won despite alienating immigrants, Muslims and other minority groups in the US. His anti-immigrant platform resonated mostly with white male voters with no college education, but analysts predicted it would doom his prospects for connecting with a broader base of voters. Surprisingly, he cobbled together enough votes from a variety of demographics to claim the election.
Winner of US Presidential Election Donald Trump
