President-elect Donald Trump not only secured victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the Electoral College but also appeared set to become the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote.

As of Wednesday morning, Trump had amassed 70,654,294 votes, compared to Harris’s 66,093,585.

According to Newsweek, Trump, who will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, is on track to become the first Republican to achieve a national popular vote victory since President George W. Bush (50.7%) defeated Senator John Kerry (48.3%) in 2004.

In that election, Bush won 62,040,610 votes along with 286 electoral votes, while his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, received 59,028,444 votes and 251 electoral votes, as recorded by the Federal Election Commission.

Since then, the Democratic Party has consistently won the popular vote, even when Trump won the presidency via the Electoral College in 2016, defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Ahead of the 2024 election, betting markets did not predict strong odds for Trump’s popular vote win, never estimating his chances above 43%, as reported by Axios.

Newsmax was the first network to project Trump’s victory on Tuesday night, making the call just minutes after announcing that he had won the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

With the win in Pennsylvania, Trump reached the required 270 electoral votes to secure the presidency, officially becoming the 47th president of the United States.

Trump’s return to office makes him only the second president in U.S. history to serve two non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd president after the 1884 election and as the 24th president after winning again in 1892.

{Matzav.com}