Donald Trump claimed victory and pledged to “heal” the nation on Wednesday as outcomes put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a shocking White House comeback.

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His exuberant speech got here although solely Fox News had declared him the winner, with no different US networks having made the decision up to now.

‘Help the country heal’

As jubilant supporters cheered and chanted “USA”, Trump took to the stage at his marketing campaign headquarters in Florida alongside together with his spouse Melania and several other of his kids.

“We are going to help our country heal,” the Republican former president mentioned.

“It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before.”

US networks have referred to as the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina for the 78-year-old, and he led the Democratic vice chairman within the others though they haven’t been referred to as but.

Gloom swiftly descended on Harris’s camp.

“You won’t hear from the vice president tonight but you will hear from her tomorrow,” Cedric Richmond, Harris marketing campaign co-chair, informed a watch social gathering in Washington as supporters left.

In an extra blow to Democrats, Donald Trump’s Republican Party additionally seized management of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a slender Democratic majority.

A Trump victory threatens to trigger shockwaves all over the world, as US allies in Europe and Asia concern a return of his nationalist insurance policies and his reward of autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

But the US greenback surged and bitcoin hit a document excessive whereas most fairness markets superior as merchants wager on a victory for Trump because the outcomes rolled in.

Mood shift

Polls for weeks had proven a knife-edge race between Harris and Trump, who can be the oldest ever president on the time of inauguration, the primary felon president and solely the second in historical past to serve non-consecutive phrases.

Trump additionally faces sentencing in a prison case over hush cash funds on November 26, whereas the controversy over his denial of his 2020 election defeat by Joe Biden nonetheless persists.

But in the long run victory got here surprisingly shortly.

The temper shifted sharply at Harris’s watch social gathering in Howard University – her former school and a traditionally Black college in Washington – because the outcomes got here in.

“I am scared,” mentioned Charlyn Anderson.

“I am anxious now. I am leaving, my legs can barely move.”

In distinction, the celebrations intensified at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and the watch social gathering close by.

Tech tycoon Elon Musk, who has backed Donald Trump and stands to steer a authorities effectivity fee below him, posted an image of himself with the Republican.

“Game, set and match,” Musk said on X, the social media community he owns together with the Tesla electrical car agency and the Space X firm.

Millions of Americans had lined up all through Election Day – and thousands and thousands extra voted early – in a race with momentous penalties for the United States and the world.

They have been deciding whether or not to both hand a historic comeback to Trump or make Harris the primary girl on the earth’s strongest job.

In a stark reminder of the strain – and fears of outright violence – dozens of bomb threats have been made towards polling stations in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

The FBI mentioned the threats appeared to originate in Russia, which is accused by Washington of making an attempt to meddle within the election. The threats have been all hoaxes however succeeded in disrupting proceedings.

Dark rhetoric

Harris, 60, had aiming to be solely the second Black and first particular person of South Asian descent to be president.

She made a dramatic entrance into the race when Biden dropped out in July, whereas Trump – twice impeached whereas president – has since ridden out two assassination makes an attempt and a prison conviction.

She hammered house her message that Donald Trump was a risk to democracy and her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans.

Trump has vowed an unprecedented deportation marketing campaign of thousands and thousands of undocumented immigrants, in a marketing campaign filled with darkish rhetoric.

The election is being watched carefully all over the world together with within the warfare zones of Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump has indicated he’ll minimize support to Kyiv’s battle towards the Russian invasion.

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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse