Trump wins presidential election

Jack Glagola, News Editor

Peggy Stansbery, Executive Editor

Former President Donald Trump officially won the presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris at 5:34 a.m. on Nov. 6 when he secured the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the election, according to NPR.

He won with 277 electoral votes and 51% of the popular vote against Harris’ 224 votes and 47% of the popular vote, according to the Associated Press.

Trump won key swing states such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, according to the Associated Press.

He delivered his victory speech at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida, thanking his supporters and promising to “make America great again for all Americans.”

“Now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we are going to help our country heal, help our country heal,” Trump said. “We have a country who needs help and needs help badly. We are going to fix our borders, we are going to fix everything about our country.”

Harris has not made any comments yet but plans to deliver a concession speech today on Nov. 6, according to AP News.

Zuzanna Szafran, a second-year computer science student, said her most important issue this election was abortion rights.

“It’s really important because I would like to be able to do that,” Szafran said.

Szafran said she just had “a vibe” that Harris would win.

“I can sense it,” Szafran said.

Bailey Moncure, a third-year theater student, voted for Harris because he doesn’t want to have a second Trump term.

“I’ve heard a lot of stuff about history in the past of when Donald Trump was president, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that again,’” Moncure said.

Moncure cited abortion as an important issue for him.

“I think that should be an accessible thing,” Moncure said.

He couldn’t predict the winner because the election was so close, but Moncure said he hoped Harris wins.

“I think she’s hopefully getting to the swing states,” Moncure said.

Layla Robinson, a second-year fashion design student, voted for Harris and said unity was her most important issue.

Harris’ campaign has embraced a message of unity — she has billed herself as a “president for all Americans,” according to the Associated Press.

“Right now we’re really separate and diverse right now,” Robinson said. “Like, very, very angry, a lot of anger and hatred happening.”

Robinson said as a Black person she is “always down for unity” and seeing hatred against Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic — when it wasn’t their fault — brought her to push for unity.

“You need unity,” Robinson said. “We have to bring each other together, bring each other up because life is hard and there’s no reason to bring each other down.”

Cole Hurd, a fourth-year theater student, said he planned to vote for Harris even though she is a “bit too centrist-leaning for the Democratic Party.”

Hurd said his most important issue is tax cuts for the lower and middle classes and that his family has been negatively affected by upper-class tax cuts.

“We’ve known people in the past who are of a higher wage, and they still get off with so much more money than we do,” Hurd said. “It’s disheartening.”

Hurd said he thought Harris will win a close race because she “realistically has the better options.”

“I don’t see a lot of Trump supporters or past voters for Trump are going to still align,” Hurd said.

Kay Williams, a fourth-year theater student, said she voted for Harris because people need energy to achieve reform.

“There will be no time or energy for revolt if people of color and women and trans and queer people are constantly just having to struggle to exist,” Williams said.

Williams also said her most important issue was taxes, specifically raising taxes on the wealthy.

“I think many of our systemic and climate-based problems could very easily be solved if there were no billionaires,” Williams said.

Williams said she thought Harris would win because many Republicans have disavowed Trump.

“Even those people who want to take away abortion rights and healthcare and specific healthcare access for women — they’re not even siding with Trump anymore,” Williams said. “And I feel like that has to say something.”

Alexandra Reckendorf, a political science professor at VCU, stated in an email that the main reason the race seemed so close was because of the extremely polarized electorate.

“This is why people supporting both candidates are generally stressed out in the run-up to Election Day; it truly feels like a 50/50 chance that we’ll get Harris or Trump,” Reckendorf stated.

Both candidates’ strategies involved painting the other as unfit for office — for Harris, reminding voters of the first Trump administration, and for Trump, tying Harris to the Biden administration. In the later stages, Trump tried to cast doubt on the results should he lose, according to Reckendorf.

“If it is close on election night again, or if it looks like he has lost, he can once again try to use the courts to his advantage (his attempts to do so failed in 2020) or stir unrest, and possibly violence, amongst his most ardent supporters like he did on January 6, 2021,” Reckendorf stated.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect the final results of the election. The original article did not call the final result. The Nov. 6 print issue of The Commonwealth Times includes the original, non-updated version.