Early Wednesday morning, most media outlets projected that Donald Trump wins the Electoral College with 312 Electoral votes to Kamala Harris with 226.
In the popular vote, Trump achieved 50.5% to Harris’ 48%, the only time Trump won a majority of votes out of his three presidential bids. The last Republican to win the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004. The only other time a president won two nonconsecutive terms was Grover Cleveland, who won in 1884, lost 1888, and won again in 1892.
Trump won all seven swing states including North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona. Wisconsin turned out to be the closest race of 2024, where Trump squeezed out a 0.8% lead. No third party candidate received more than 2% of the national vote share this cycle. The Electoral College determines the president. The winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes out of the 538 total. A state’s electoral vote is equal to the number of Representatives they send to the House plus two. Trump got 60% of the total votes in Louisiana, thus receiving Louisiana’s eight electoral votes. State election officials certify the vote count and are recertified by a slate of electors selected by the party state leadership. The votes are then sent to Congress for final approval.
The Associated Press conducted a massive exit poll of 120,000 voters across the country, and found that the Democratic Party lost voters in all demographics. Two of the most important groups in this election were likely minorities like Latinos and Blacks.
Harris received 83% of Black voters and 89% of African American women, her largest margin. Opposed to 2020 when 63% of Latinos voted for Biden, 55% chose Harris this time.
The Republicans also gained control of the Senate on Wednesday, looking to maintain a comfortable margin of 53 to the Democrats 46, flipping Democrat seats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana and West Virginia. Arizona, where Democrat Ruben Gallego leads Kari Lake, is the only race left to be called. Republicans are inching closer to a House majority, too. They currently hold 213 seats, short of the 218 needed for a majority, to the Democrats 203.
Clay Higgins, the sitting representative for Louisiana’s Third District (including the Lafayette, Lake Charles, and New Iberia region), won by 51.9% against Democrat Priscilla Gonzalez. Cleo Fields won in Louisiana’s new majority Black Sixth District by 13%, giving Louisiana a second Democrat in Congress. The district follows the Red River from Shreveport down to Baton Rouge. Reuters reported in 2022 that Louisiana’s redistricting process faced challenges from the US Supreme Court after the 2020 census, ruling that, under the Fourteenth Amendment, the state needed another district representing its diverse population, a third of which are Black.
Louisiana residents voted on an amendment to the state constitution. The unofficial results show the measure passing with 73% voting yes.
Louisiana’s next election is Dec. 7 for any runoff races and numerous ballot measures.