Trump claims victory, Harris skips party: The biggest surprises of election night
The 2024 presidential election cycle came to a close in the early morning hours on Wednesday, capping off a wild campaign cycle with President-elect Donald Trump is projected to win the presidency and go back to the White House on Jan. 20.
Following speculation that the election results could drag out days, Fox News Decision Desk is projecting a Trump victory after notching key wins in a handful of battleground states.
Fox News Digital compiled the biggest election surprises on Tuesday evening into Wednesday, including Harris calling it a night without addressing supporters, and Florida Republicans celebrating the failure of an abortion amendment.
TRUMP VOWS TO LEAD ‘GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA’ IN VICTORY SPEECH: 'FIX EVERYTHING'
Trump became the projected winner of the 2024 election cycle early Wednesday morning, after securing key battleground states such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
He vowed to lead the "golden age of America" in his victory speech in Florida.
"Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day, I will be fighting for you. And with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America. That's what we have to have. This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again," Trump said.
The president-elect called his campaign the "greatest political movement of all time" while vowing to "fix everything about our country."
"There's never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond. And now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal," he said.
"We're going to help our country here. We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're going to fix our borders. We're going to fix everything about our country and we've made history for a reason tonight. And the reason is going to be just that. We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible," he added to cheers from the crowd.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign called it an early night on Tuesday. The Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon encouraged supporters to go home and "get some sleep" ahead of 11 p.m. on Tuesday, which was followed by Harris skipping an address to her supporters.
HARRIS WILL NOT SPEAK FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY ON ELECTION NIGHT AS PLANNED
"Those of you who were around in 2020 know this well: It takes time for all the votes to be counted – and all the votes will be counted," O'Malley Dillon wrote in a dismal note to Democrats Tuesday evening. "That’s how our system works. What we do know is this race is not going to come into focus until the early morning hours. We’ll continue to keep you all updated as we get more information. This is what we’ve been built for, so let’s finish up what we have in front of us tonight, get some sleep, and get ready to close out strong tomorrow."
Harris held the watch party at her alma mater, Howard University, where supporters flocked to the campus before results began ticking towards a Trump victory. The campaign soon reported that Harris would not speak to supporters or the nation the night of the election, and would instead deliver remarks on Wednesday.
The campaign’s co-chair, Cedric Richmond, instead delivered brief remarks.
"We still have votes to count, we still have states that have not been called yet We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken. So you won't hear from the vice president tonight. But you will hear from her tomorrow," Richmond said, ahead of Trump's eventual victory.
President Biden notably did not join the Harris watch party at Howard University on Tuesday, instead staying at the White House and congratulating down-ballot Democrats who came out of their races victorious. Biden kicked off the 2024 campaign cycle running for re-election, but dropped out of the race in July as concerns mounted over his mental acuity and age.
Republicans are on track to take control of the Senate, with Ohio Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno declaring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is "fired."
"Chuck Schumer: Thanks for the help in the primary, but you’re fired, buddy," Moreno told supporters in his victory speech. "With Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House, we’re gonna have a new agenda. We’re gonna be pro-immigration not pro-invasion. We’re gonna be an energy-dominant nation."
Fox News projects the GOP will take control of the Senate, as the party will hold at least 51 seats, enough for an outright majority.
Nebraska was the state to officially tip the scales – following Moreno flipping longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s seat in Ohio – where Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer is projected to defeat independent challenger Dan Osborn.
Former President Donald Trump is projected to win a bevy of battleground states, including Georgia, North Carolina and the arguably top battleground of the 2024 cycle, Pennsylvania.
Speculation mounted in the weeks leading up to Election Day that the vote count could drag out for days in a handful of states, including Pennsylvania, where 2020's vote took four days to tally. Despite delayed polling hours in some Pennsylvania and Georgia jurisdictions, the states managed to tally votes overnight Tuesday, handing Trump victories in key battlegrounds.
FOX NEWS PROJECTS TRUMP VICTORY OVER HARRIS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns placed heightened emphasis on campaigning in the Keystone State, as well as in Georgia and Wisconsin, repeatedly holding rallies and campaign events to build support. Despite polls showing Trump and Harris were neck and neck in polls ahead of the election, Trump ended the cycle victorious in the battlegrounds, which launched him to victory.
On the state level, voters in Florida voters rejected an amendment that would have created a constitutional right to abortion, while voters in California approved of a ballot measure that cracks down on crime.
In Florida, voters rejected Amendment 4, which stated, "No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider."
DeSantis signed the Heartbeat Protection Act into law last year, which banned most abortions after six weeks of gestation. Amendment 4 would have overturned the pro-life law.
'FASCIST': LIBERAL CRITICS MELT DOWN AFTER FLORIDA VOTERS REJECT ABORTION RIGHTS
In Florida, constitutional amendments must get 60% of the vote, not a simple majority, to pass. Amendment 4 received majority support among voters but failed to meet the 60% threshold.
After its failure to pass, pro-life and religious groups celebrated the news as a massive win for the pro-life movement.
"The defeat of Amendment 4 in Florida is a huge victory for the whole state, especially its most vulnerable. Proponents of Amendment 4 used the same playbook they have in other states which relied on fearmongering and disinformation backed by a funding advantage of tens of millions of out-of-state dollars," Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said in a statement.
In California, voters approved of Proposition 36, which will crack down on theft and drug trafficking in a state that has been battered by crime for years.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed the ballot initiative, saying ahead of the vote: "Prop 36 takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration — it promotes a promise that can’t be delivered."
'WOKE' RETAILERS WHO ASKED CONGRESS FOR HELP AMID SMASH-AND-GRABS SUPPORTED LEFT-WING POLICE REFORMS
A decade ago, voters in the state approved California's Proposition 47, which reduced shoplifting charges regarding the theft of $950 or less from felonies to misdemeanors. Voters' approval of Prop 36 on Tuesday reverses Prop. 47.
Crime has spiraled in California in recent years, most notably in 2021 and 2022, when smash-and-grab crimes hit a fever pitch in the state. Criminals were repeatedly caught on camera storming high-end department stores with crowbars and other weapons in order to smash display cases before stealing merchandise and fleeing.
Police groups and others in the state pinned blame for the crime trends on Proposition 47.