President-elect Donald Trump not only defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the Electoral College, he also was headed toward being the first Republican in 20 years to capture the popular vote.
As of Wednesday morning, Trump had received 70,654,294 votes while Harris had 66,093,585.
Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, was on course to become the first Republican to win the national popular vote since President George W. Bush (50.7%) defeated Sen. John Kerry (48.3%) in 2004, Newsweek reported.
Bush won 62,040,610 votes and 286 electoral votes compared to Democrat nominee John Kerry, who secured 59,028,444 votes and 251 electoral votes, according to the Federal Election Commission.
From then to now, Democrats won the popular vote, even when Trump won the Electoral College in 2016 and defeated Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
Before the 2024 election, prediction markets never gave Trump a greater than 43% chance of winning the popular vote, Axios reported.
Newsmax was the first network to project Trump winning Tuesday’s election. The projection came minutes after Newsmax called the battleground state of Pennsylvania for the Republican.
The Pennsylvania victory gave Trump the 270 electoral votes needed to win, making him the 47th president of the U.S.
Trump’s return to the White House will make him the second president to serve non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd president after the 1884 election, and as the 24th president after the campaign of 1892.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.