• Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris in a tight contest.

• Trump served his first term as US president from 2016 to 2020 after defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. 

• Trump recaptured the White House by securing more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency.

• Once the 2024 vote is certified by Congress on January 6, 2025, Trump and his incoming vice president, US Senator J.D. Vance, are due to take office on Inauguration Day, January 20. 

• Trump, 78, would be the oldest President ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House. The first was Grover Cleveland, who served two four-year terms starting in 1885 and 1893.

• Trump is the only President to be impeached twice and the first former President to be criminally convicted.

A historic political comeback

• Trump went into Election Day on November 5 with a 50-50 chance of reclaiming the White House. 

• His political career had appeared to be over after his false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed bid to overturn his 2020 defeat.

• Trump prevailed despite persistently low approval ratings. He has been criminally indicted four times and found civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation. In May, Trump was convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.

• Two months after Trump’s conviction in the hush money case, a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear during a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania, exacerbating fears about political violence. Another assassination attempt was thwarted in September at his Florida golf course. 

• Barely eight days after the July shooting, Biden, 81, dropped out of the race, finally bowing to weeks of pressure from his fellow Democrats after a poor performance during his debate with Trump called into question his mental acuity and the viability of his re-election bid.

• Biden’s decision to step aside turned the contest into a sprint, as Harris raced to mount her own campaign in a matter of weeks, rather than the typical months. 

• Harris fell short in her 15-week sprint as a candidate, failing to galvanise enough support to defeat Trump or to allay voters’ concerns about the economy and immigration.

• Harris’ financial advantage was partly countered by the intervention of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who poured more than $100 million for the campaign mobilising Trump voters and used his social media site X to amplify pro-Trump messaging.

• Major stock markets around the world rallied following Trump’s victory, and the dollar was set for its biggest one-day jump since 2020.

• His victory will have major implications for US trade and climate change policies, the war in Ukraine, Americans' taxes and immigration.

• His tariff proposals could spark a fiercer trade war with China and US allies, while his pledges to reduce corporate taxes and implement a spate of new cuts could balloon US debt.

• Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting immigrants in the country illegally.

• He has said he wants the authority to fire civil servants he views as disloyal. His opponents fear he will turn the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies into political weapons to investigate perceived enemies.

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