U.S. election recap: Trump wins 2nd presidency, Republicans gain control of Senate

Donald Trump won his second term as president of the United States, beating Vice President Kamala Harris 277 to 224 in the electoral college vote in the 2024 election, capping a triumphant campaign after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.

"We overcame obstacles that nobody ever thought we could," Trump said during his victory speech in Florida. "This will truly be the golden age of America."

Trump's victory marks an historic and improbable comeback after his failure to be reelected for a second consecutive term in 2020, one in which he claimed without substantiation that the election was rigged and tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results.

He also became the first former president to be charged with either state or federal crimes in four separate indictments and was convicted earlier this year in the state of New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an alleged affair with Trump.

The 2024 election also benefited the Republican party as a whole, as they shifted the balance of power away from Democrats by taking control of the U.S. Senate 52 to 42, with several races still being counted, but only 51 needed to take the majority.

Control of the House of Representatives is yet still to be determined, as several races have not yet been called. So far, Republicans lead Democrats by a narrow margin, 210 to 181, with the magic number of 218 needed to take control of Congress.

On the state level, Republicans also fared well, with the balance of power now being 27 Republican governors to 23 Democratic governors.

Trump has 75 days to assemble an administrative cabinet for when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025 and officially begins his second presidential term. One highly mentioned name to likely be a part of his administration is billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who was an outspoken supporter of Trump and donated millions of dollars to his campaign.

Trump is also expected to immediately begin following through on his campaign promises, including the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, imposing new tariffs on imports, putting a freeze on climate-related regulations, changing federal health agencies and shaping the ideology of the U.S. education system.

Many of these changes will be made easier by the newly Republican-controlled Senate, and if Republicans also gain control of the House, Trump will be able to pass new legislation without any obstacles.