NEW YORK – Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that her crushing loss to Donald Trump exposed the nation’s deep and difficult divisions, but she urged her backers to give him “a chance to lead.”

In her first public statements since the stunning election results, Clinton also called on other women to take up where she left off and continue the push for the White House, suggesting she may not make another run in four years.

“We need you to keep up these fights,” Clinton said in New York, making special mention of the many women who hoped the former secretary of state was on her way to become the first female president.

“I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it, too,” said Clinton, less than 24 hours after calling the president-elect to concede after his history-shaping run that defied pollsters and galvanized legions of aggrieved voters in a loud repudiation of the status quo. “This is painful, and it will be for a long time.”

She said the long and bitter campaign against Trump showed that “our nation is more deeply divided than we thought.”

But she told her backers: “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”

Clinton and her allies are left to sort out how Trump upended her seemingly clear path to become America’s first female president. Clinton called Trump to concede as the results were clear.

Trump – who had used social media as a tool to court support and mock foes during the campaign – sent a tweet at 6:30 a.m.: “Such a beautiful and important evening! The forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again. We will all come together as never before.”

His Twitter bio now reads, “President-elect of the United States” – capping a once-unimaginable rise that was carried by voters fed up with the political system and mistrustful of Clinton, a former first lady, senator and secretary of state.

But protests flared as dismay among Clinton supporters turned to anger. In Los Angeles, about 500 people chanted, “Not my president.” In Oregon, anti-Trump demonstrators blocked traffic and rail lines.

President Barack Obama called Trump “to congratulate him on his victory early this morning,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, adding that Obama also invited Trump to meet with him at the White House on Thursday.

Obama also called Clinton and “expressed admiration for the strong campaign she waged throughout the country,” Earnest added.

Trump sounded a magnanimous note of reconciliation as he claimed victory about 1 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday.

“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” Trump said, minutes after Clinton called him to concede. “I mean that very sincerely. Now, it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together. To all Republicans, Democrats and Independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”

He had portrayed his opponent as the embodiment of a rigged system that had failed the everyday American. Her credentials through a quarter-century on the national stage, which in another electoral climate would have been an asset, pegged her in his supporters’ view as the ultimate establishment insider.

Trump said that under his administration, “America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.” And he promised foreign countries that “while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone,” adding: “We will seek common ground, not hostility.”

The real estate developer thanked his wife, Melania, and his children for their patience, saying: “This was tough. This was tough. This political stuff is nasty, and it’s tough.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Trump and Clinton “had a very gracious exchange” when she conceded the race.

Asked whether Trump would consider appointing a special prosecutor to probe Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state and her ties to the Clinton Foundation, Conway said: “We have not discussed that at all, and he certainly did not discuss that with Secretary Clinton on that call.”

With Trump’s ascension to the White House, the nationalist wave that has swept capitals around the world – including in Britain, which voted to break from the European Union this year – came crashing onto U.S. shores.

On Wednesday, Trump was uncharacteristically quiet and made no public appearances. He huddled with jubilant, sleep-deprived advisers at his eponymous skyscraper in Manhattan, beginning the daunting task of setting up an administration that will take power in just over two months. He also met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence and took calls from supporters, family and friends.

In Washington, Trump’s scant transition team sprang into action, culling through personnel lists for top jobs and working through handover plans for government agencies. A person familiar with the transition operations said the personnel process was still in its early stages, but Trump’s team was putting a premium on quickly filling key national security posts.

According to an organizational chart for the transition obtained by The Associated Press, Trump was relying on experienced hands to help form his administration. National security planning was being led by former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who previously worked for the FBI. Domestic issues were being handled by Ken Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor and Ohio secretary of state.

Trump was expected to consider several loyal supporters for top jobs, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for attorney general or national security adviser and campaign finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker were also expected to be under consideration for foreign policy posts.

After struggling for months with Trump’s takeover of their party, Republican leaders embraced the businessman in victory. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was lukewarm in his support throughout the campaign, praised him for pulling off “the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime.” Ryan added, “He just earned a mandate.”

Indeed, Trump will take office in January with Congress fully in his party’s control, giving him strength to try to pass his agenda and turn the Supreme Court in a conservative direction. Even Republicans were stunned by the scope of their electoral success, including many who had been privately predicting Trump’s defeat.

With several million votes still to be counted, Clinton held a narrow lead in the nationwide popular vote. Most of the outstanding votes appeared to be in Democratic-leaning states. With almost 125 million votes counted, The Associated Press tally had Clinton with 47.7 percent and Trump with 47.5 percent.

Trump’s sweep of the battleground states was commanding. He carried Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, three and snatched reliably Democratic Pennsylvania and Wisconsin away from Clinton.

Thousands of protesters around the country took to the streets Wednesday to condemn the election of Donald Trump as president.

The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, authorities said.

In Chicago, several thousand people marched through the Loop and gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting “Not my president!”

Chicago resident Michael Burke said he believes the president-elect will “divide the country and stir up hatred.” He added there was a constitutional duty not to accept that.

A similar protest in Manhattan drew about 1,000 people. Outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in midtown, police installed barricades to keep the demonstrators at bay.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near Philadelphia’s City Hall despite chilly, wet weather. Participants – who included both supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the primary – expressed anger at both Republicans and Democrats over the election’s outcome.

Protests also were reported at a number of universities in California and Connecticut, while several hundred people marched in San Francisco and others gathered outside City Hall in Los Angeles.

The only major violence was reported in Oakland, California, during a protest that began shortly before midnight and lasted into early Wednesday morning.

Some demonstrators set garbage bins on fire, broke windows and sprayed graffiti at five businesses in the downtown area, police said. No arrests were made.

Another protest began Wednesday evening downtown, with several hundred chanting, sign-waving people gathering in Frank Ogawa Plaza.

In San Francisco, hundreds were marching along Market Avenue, one of the city’s main avenues, to join a vigil in the Castro District, a predominantly gay neighborhood.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.