Good morning! In a disappointing moment for the historical notoriety of Grover Cleveland, Donald Trump last night became the second president in American history to be elected to two non-consecutive terms in the White House. Sadly, it doesn’t look like that will net him a second presidential ham.

Over in Congress, Republicans won control of the Senate while the House of Representatives is too close to call.

PRESIDENT

🗳️ Donald Trump wins second term

The votes are still being counted, but former-and-future-President Donald Trump appears to have cleared the board and won all seven swing states in his pursuit of a second term in office. All but two states are already finished counting in what can only be called a modern miracle.

Assuming his leads in Michigan and Arizona don’t evaporate, Trump will win the Electoral College 312 to 226 — a good chunk more than the 270 votes he needed.

• Despite Democratic hopes of turning Texas blue, Trump won the state by 14%. That’s more than double his 2020 margin.

• Trump appears to have lost deeply Democratic New Jersey by just 5%. That’s the best margin for a Republican since 1992.

• He lost Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz’s home state of Minnesota by just 4%.

Exit polls — polls taken live as you walk out of the polling place — indicate that about 55% of women voted for Harris and about 45% voted for Trump. The reverse is true for men.

• Political writers are already calling this a 1992-style “realignment” election that changes the playing field of American politics for the long term.

Trump also won the national popular vote, becoming the first Republican to do so since George W. Bush in 2004. Votes are still being counted, but he’s sitting at about 51% of the vote as of Wednesday morning.

• Donald Trump is now the president-elect of the United States. He will be inaugurated at noon on January 20, 2025, as the 47th president.

• The transition period begins immediately. The next few months will see a flurry of appointments, policies, and plans. We’ll have more on those as they arise.

Congratulatory messages from world leaders are rolling in this morning as the world wakes up to the news of Trump’s win.

• French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "ready to work together as we did for four years" for "peace and prosperity."

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump's win "history's greatest comeback" and said it "offers a new beginning for America."

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a little less over-the-top. He said he appreciated Trump's "commitment to the 'peace through strength' approach to global affairs."

Kamala Harris did not speak last night. An aide addressed the crowd at her Howard University watch party and said the vice president would speak at some point today.

Vice President-elect JD Vance will take office in January at age 40. He’ll be the third-youngest VP in American history and the youngest since Richard Nixon took the job in 1953.

• His wife, attorney Usha Vance, is just 38 years old. She’ll become the first-ever Indian American to serve as second lady.

SENATE

🏛️ Republicans win control of Senate

Republicans won back control of the United States Senate last night after four years of Democratic leadership. This is a big get for the incoming Trump administration since the Senate must vote to confirm hundreds of presidential appointees.

How many seats did they win? Nobody knows because counting is hard and counting fast is even harder. Republicans ousted Democrats in at least three races, which gives them a total of 52 seats in the 100-member Senate.

• If Republicans run the table on all these close races, they’d have a 56-seat Senate majority — their largest since 1923.

🔴 Montana: The counting isn’t quite done yet, but aerospace executive and ex-Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy (R) likely defeated longtime Sen. Jon Tester (D), who is somehow super tight with Pearl Jam.

🔴 Ohio: Bernie Moreno (R) defeated longtime Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) by about 4%. Moreno is a wealthy car dealer and immigrant from Colombia. He’ll be the sixth current Hispanic senator. Fun fact: his brother once served as Colombia’s ambassador to the United States and his son-in-law is a member of the House.

🔴 West Virginia: Gov. Jim Justice (R) defeated Some Dude by like 35%. Justice is a billionaire-ish who owns the Greenbrier Resort, which is home to the Cold War-era bunker meant to keep Congress safe in the event of a nuclear attack. More importantly, Babydog Justice is coming with him.

❔ Michigan: Former FBI agent and ex-Rep. Mike Rogers (R) leads former CIA officer and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) by about 16,000 votes. Who will win? Who knows. But we could end up in recount territory here.

❔ Nevada: Less than 1,000 votes separate Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) and Army vet Sam Brown (R), who was badly burned during the War in Afghanistan in 2008. This one could go either way, but heavily populated Democratic areas still have quite a few votes uncounted. The state won’t do it automatically but either candidate can request a recount.

❔ Pennsylvania: Ex-Treasury Department official and hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick (R) leads longtime Sen. Bob Casey (D) by about 1% as of Wednesday morning. This one’s TBD and will go to an automatic recount if the final margin is less than 0.5%.

❔ Wisconsin: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) leads businessman Eric Hovde (R) by less than one percent. A few votes are outstanding but Hovde might have a tough time overcoming Baldwin’s 26,000-vote margin here.

Plus…

🔵 Arizona: Marine vet and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D) leads former news anchor Kari Lake (R) by 2.8% in the race to replace a retiring Democrat. This wasn’t viewed as particularly competitive going into yesterday. Only 65% of the vote has been counted and stranger things have happened, but Democrats are confident their man will win.

HOUSE

🏛️ Somebody’s got to win the House eventually

Don’t be alarmed or anything, but there’s a chance that the 435 members of the House of Representatives end up split down the middle. Current projections have Republicans maintaining control of the chamber by the bare minimum margin: 218 to 217.

• For reference, 11 members of the House have died or resigned in the two years since the 2022 elections.

What happened? Democrats picked up a few seats in New York, Louisiana, and Arizona while Republicans picked up a few in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina. The final House margin will likely be decided in slow-counting California at some point in the next few days.

• Trump won the popular vote nationwide partly due to boosted support in large cities dominated by Democrats. At the same time, Republicans lost a bit of ground in more winnable districts.

• The result? Losing some districts 75-25 instead of 85-15… while losing others 53-48 instead of winning them by similar margins.

Republicans control the House right now 220 to 212 (three seats are vacant). With such a tight margin, they can only afford three defectors before a bill fails to pass. A House where the parties are separated by just one seat will be… well, gridlocked.

• Should Republicans keep a hold on the House, current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would likely retain the gavel.

Democrats winning control would make 2024 a record-breaking election in which party control in all three elected parts of the federal government — the White House, the House, and the Senate — flipped in the same election.

• Should Democrats win out, Democratic House leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) would take over.

TRIVIA

With the (re?)election of Donald Trump last night, the United States has elected a different president in each of the past four elections. And, since Trump is term-limited, we’ll have to pick somebody new in 2028. That’ll make it five consecutive switcheroos. When was the last time the U.S. voted in a new president five elections in a row? Name any included presidential election year.

Hint: The first guy and the last guy here served more than one term. We’re starting and ending in the middle of their runs.

BRIEFS

● New York City voters rejected a proposal to create a Chief Business Diversity Officer. The plan, supported by Mayor Eric Adams (D), failed by about five percent.

● Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride (D), age 34, will soon become the first-ever transgender member of Congress after easily winning the race to represent Delaware’s sole congressional district.

● Porn site commenter and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson (R) lost his bid for a promotion to governor of North Carolina yesterday to Attorney General Josh Stein by about 15%.

● Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Kauger became the first justice in state history to get booted from office. Kauger, 87, has served on the court since 1984.

● Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón (D) lost by 22% to Republican-turned-independent Nathan Hochman, who promised to be tougher on crime.

● Republicans sort of picked up a House seat in the Northern Mariana Islands. Like Puerto Rico, the Pacific territory sends a delegate to the House who helps craft legislation but can't vote on final passage.

● Abortion rights ballot measures passed in Arizona, Colorado, and Maryland. Nevada voters passed one, too, but must pass it again in 2026 before it kicks in. Florida voters failed to hit the 60% threshold needed to overturn their state’s six-week ban. South Dakotans rejected an abortion rights law by 21%.

● Despite early polls showing a close race, local official Angela Alsobrooks (D) easily defeated ex-Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in super Democratic Maryland. Next door in Delaware, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) was also elected to the Senate. For the first time ever, two Black women will serve together in the U.S. Senate next year.

QUOTE

ANSWER

From 1916 to 1932, we were spinning the “new president wheel” almost constantly.

1. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson (D) won his race for a second term in office amid the breakout of World War I.

2. In 1920, Warren G. Harding (R) won the White House. He would pass away in mid-2023.

3. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge (R) won a full term of his own after inheriting the office from Harding the previous year.

4. In 1928, Herbert Hoover (R) won the presidency after Coolidge chose to retire instead of running for a second full term.

5. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) blew ole Herb out of the water in a landslide defeat that saw the soon-to-be ex-president carry just six states.