Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States in the early morning of Nov. 9.
To the utter disbelief of millions of Americans, Trump made his victory speech in New York City around 2 am Wednesday morning, after his opponent Hillary Clinton made a phone call to him and conceded.
“I just received a call from Secretary Clinton…” he began, “she congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory.”
He went on to congratulate the Clinton family for the tough challenge they posed during the campaign and commented on how much of a debt of gratitude America owes Clinton.
“I pledge that I will be president of all Americans,” he said at the start of his speech. “Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream.”
“Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential… We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none,” he said, in remarks reminiscent of Clinton’s pledges.
Earlier that night, Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta announced to Clinton’s waiting followers that she would not be making her concession speech the night of the election results.
Instead, she made her speech around 11 am Wednesday morning in New York.
“Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country,” she told the crowd.
“I’m sorry that we did not win this election… but I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together.”
Throughout the short speech, Clinton expressed strong emotions about the surprising result of the election, but she maintained a cool and composed attitude.
“I know how disappointed you feel, because I feel it too…. But I want you to remember this; our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive, and big-hearted.”
“Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”
“Let us have faith in each other, let us not grow weary, and let us not lose heart,” she said to the crowd in summation.
In an electoral “trifecta,” as many news outlets are calling it, the GOP also won majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives, giving the Republicans complete control of the Congress as well as the presidency for the first time since 1928.
Throughout the election night, many states were deemed “too close to call,” as votes were still being collected, and the race between the two major candidates appeared neck and neck.
However, the tight race came down to the decisions of several crucial battleground states, namely Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. The results of these states baffled citizens across the U.S.
Trump’s triumph in Pennsylvania was especially shocking, as the state hadn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.
The big take-away from the results in the battleground states was the contrast between densely populated Democratic strongholds and rural, Republican-leaning counties. In PA this was clearly evident, with Clinton winning major counties such as Bucks, Allegheny, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia. Despite Clinton’s victories in these important counties, she still lost Pennsylvania thanks to Trump’s victories in the center of the state.
The final count left Clinton with 228 electoral votes, and Trump with 279. However, Clinton did gain the popular vote, just as Barack Obama did in the past two elections.
A little closer to home, Pennsylvania saw some other major election results as well.
The hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Katie McGinty led to a close Republican victory.
The 8th District race for the U.S. House of Representatives resulted in a win for Republican Brian Fitzpatrick over his Democratic opponent Steve Santarsiero.
The 31st district (the district BCCC falls into) race for state Senate was won by Republican Mike Regan by 36 percent over his Democratic opponent John Bosha, and independent Kenneth Gehosky.
The Pennsylvania 31st district race for the state’s House of Representatives was extremely close. Democratic candidate, Perry Warren, a Newtown councilman, was elected over Republican Ryan Gallagher by just 28 votes.
Democrat Josh Shapiro won the position of attorney, beating his opponent John Rafferty by a close 3 percent difference.
Eugene DePasquale was reelected in his position as auditor general against his Republican opponent John Brown, and the two third party candidates running, John Sweeney of the Green Party, and Libertarian Roy Minet.
In the race for Pennsylvania treasurer, Democrat Joseph Torsella won over Otto Voit, the Republican candidate, Green Party candidate Kristen Combs, and Libertarian candidate James Babb.