Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday, a monumental moment in the country’s politics as he ascended to the White House despite a campaign littered with controversies.

Trump, 70, rode wins in key swing states across the nation to a surprising victory after he spent recent months trailing in the wide majority of polls. His election was the culmination of a campaign cycle lasting well over a year that was one of the most turbulent in the country’s history and that featured historically unpopular nominees from the two major parties.

A real estate mogul and former reality TV star, Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and senator from New York. Trump had said in the weeks leading up to the election that he believed the election would be rigged in Clinton’s favor, and he called on his supporters to monitor polling locations, particularly in inner cities such as Philadelphia.

Trump notched victories in a number of crucial battleground states, including Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In a victory speech early Wednesday morning from New York City, the president-elect told a crowd that it is “time for us to come together as one united people.”

“I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans,” he said. “And this is so important to me.”

Trump, who has never held political office, won the election despite leading a campaign riddled with controversies since he announced his candidacy in June 2015 — including when he characterized illegal Mexican immigrants as rapists and when he called for a temporary ban on all Muslims from entering the country.

And last month, an audio recording was released by The Washington Post in which Trump, talking to Billy Bush as they prepared to film “Access Hollywood,” made lewd comments about his treatment of women that implied sexual assault and said he could get away with it because of his fame. In the weeks following the release of the recording, several women went public and accused Trump of having sexually assaulted them in his past.

But in the business mogul’s quest for the presidency, it didn’t ultimately prove to matter, and neither did the consistent polling that showed him losing the election. Entering Tuesday, Clinton had about a 70 percent chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight’s projections.

In Florida, where Clinton had been projected to win, Trump escaped with a narrow victory, taking about 49 percent of the vote. He had won about 52 percent of the vote in Ohio with 95 percent of the state reporting and about 51 percent of the vote in North Carolina.

In New York state, Clinton earned an expected victory, having taken just under 60 percent of the vote with 94 percent of the state reporting.

Clinton’s campaign also had its moments of controversy. Throughout her campaign, Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state came under the spotlight.

About three months after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced no charges would be filed against Clinton, FBI Director James Comey notified Congress late last month that the FBI was looking into newly discovered emails. The emails were found on a laptop belonging to former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is also the estranged husband of a Clinton aide.

The move reignited the controversy and seemed to breathe new life into Trump’s campaign and his chances of winning. Comey informed lawmakers earlier this week that the FBI still wouldn’t be pressing charges against Clinton, but some nonetheless speculated that it could negatively affect her at the polls.

Clinton did not make a concession speech Tuesday night. Her campaign chairman, John Podesta, told Clinton supporters at around 2 a.m. Wednesday that the campaign did not yet have anything to say about the race’s results.

“She has done an amazing job, and she is not done yet,” Podesta said.

Trump, though, said Clinton called to congratulate him and concede the election.

During his campaign, Trump’s signature position and talking point has been immigration. He has said he plans to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep undocumented immigrants out of the country. Trump has also frequently criticized international trade deals such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying he would make better deals if elected president.

Trump visited Syracuse once on the campaign trail: In April, as he competed for the Republican presidential nomination in the primaries. During that visit, he focused on how he believed the United States would win if he were elected president: with trade, jobs, health care, the military and more as he addressed an audience at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center.

“You’re going to say, ‘Mr. President, please, we can’t stand it, the winning is too much,’” Trump said during his speech that day.

Published on November 9, 2016 at 2:32 am

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu