Donald Trump is projected to become the 47th US president, after securing the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, blocking any further paths for Kamala Harris’ to the White House.
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After a night that saw him dramatically outperform expectations, Donald Trump has been projected the winner of the state of Pennsylvania — in the process making it impossible for Kamala Harris to win the White House.
One of the most narrowly won states in both 2016 and 2020, Pennsylvania was universally considered a must-win state for Harris.
While acknowledging throughout the campaign it expected a narrow margin of victory, Harris’ operation boasted of its massive canvassing and mobilisation effort, and the vice president delivered the climactic speech of her campaign at a massive rally in the state’s largest city, Philadelphia — the city that was expected to provide her with her margin of victory.
Trump, meanwhile, was widely expected to lose ground among the state’s Puerto Rican voters because of racist remarks made by a comedian at a rally a week before the election.
However, exit poll data showed that the former president has in fact improved his performance among the state’s overall Latino population since the last election — a pattern that has so far appeared to be a nationwide trend.
Trump will be the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892, the only other US president to have done so.
Trump was first elected president in 2016, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In 2020 he lost re-election to President Biden in the context of the global coronavirus pandemic.
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