Trump’s speech: Donald Trump spoke to his supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, at about 2:45 this morning, declaring victory before the vote counts indicated that he had reached the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Trump said he would bring a new golden era to America. When Wisconsin was called close to 6 a.m., it gave him 276 electoral votes. Trump promised that he will fix the border and fix all other issues the country is facing. Trump’s vice president choice, J. D. Vance, thanked Trump for selecting him to run on the Republican ticket.
Trump’s gains: At about midnight, Vice President Harris let her followers gathered at Howard University in Washington know that she would have nothing to say until Wednesday when she would return to Howard to address the nation. Preliminary analysis of vote demographics showed that women did not come out for Harris in the numbers that were anticipated. Trump was the clear winner among men and Trump’s support among the Latino demographic continued to grow. Four years ago Trump lost Latino men by 23 points. This year he won Latino men by eight points.
Republican wins: Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is projected to have defeated Democrat challenger Colin Allred. In Montana, Democrat Sen. Jon Tester apparently has been defeated by Republican challenger Tim Sheehy. The race for governor in New Hampshire apparently has been won by Republican Kelly Ayotte. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders won reelection with 63% of the votes compared with 32% that went to Republican challenger Gerald Malloy. Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown was defeated in Ohio by Republican Bernie Moreno. In the Hudson Valley of New York, Republican Mike Lawler defeated Democrat Mondaire Jones and retains his 17th Congressional District seat.
Ukraine: Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has congratulated Donald Trump on what Zelenskyy called an “impressive election victory.” During the campaign, Trump frequently said he would end the war against Ukraine started by Russian President Putin within 24 hours if he were president. Trump has called for ending U.S. aid to Ukraine and it appears he would end the war by handing Putin a victory. Zelenskyy has warned that if Putin wins in Ukraine he’ll go after other countries.
Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired the country’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu and Gallant have been at odds for months over how to fight its wars in Gaza and Lebanon as well as disagreeing on domestic policy. Israeli’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, will move into the defense minister’s post. Netanyahu said that Israel’s enemies have benefitted from the differences between himself and Gallant.
Weather: Hurricane Rafael was expected to hit Cuba today after growing into a Category 2 storm. The hurricane is forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico. Intense rainstorms on election day that dumped from six to eight inches of rain on parts of Missouri resulted in flash flooding and at least five deaths including two poll workers. The poll workers were on their way to a polling place in Wright County, Missouri. Their car was swept away.
