NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to unify a deeply divided nation, having scored a stunning victory backed by extraordinary support from working-class America.
The tough-talking New York billionaire claimed victories in the nation’s premier battleground states, but his appeal across the industrial Midwest — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in particular — sealed a victory that defied pre-election polls and every expectation of the political establishment.
“I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump told supporters gathered in a Manhattan hotel near his Trump Tower campaign headquarters.
“For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so we can work together and unify our great country,” he said, the stage crowded with family and his most loyal allies.
Trump addressed the nation after sweeping most of the nation’s top battlegrounds — and created some new ones.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton conceded the race early Wednesday in a phone call to Trump. She did not speak publicly.
Trump won Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. He also took down the Democratic Party’s “blue firewall” by scoring victories in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that haven’t supported a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 and 1984 respectively.
Trump’s win shocked political professionals and global financial markets alike. But it created pure joy inside the hotel ballroom where hundreds of Trump supporters waited for hours for his celebration speech. They hugged each other, chanted “USA!” and bellowed “God bless America” at the top of their lungs.
House Speaker Paul Ryan called Trump Tuesday night to congratulate him on his “incredible victory.”
“We are eager to work hand-in-hand with the new administration to advance an agenda to improve the lives of the American people,” Ryan, who had a rocky relationship with Trump at times, said in a statement. “This has been a great night for our party, and now we must turn our focus to bringing the country together.”
While Democrat Hillary Clinton was trying to make history as the first female president, Trump made a different kind of history as one of the least experienced presidential candidates ever elected.
A businessman and former reality TV star, he is a true political outsider in a way that marks a sharp break from past presidents.
It was a battle to the end as the race lurched past midnight, neither candidate had cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Trump stood at 244 to Clinton’s 215.
The uncertainty sent Dow Jones futures and Asian markets tumbling, reflecting investor alarm over what a Trump presidency might mean for the economy and global trade.
As Clinton’s team anxiously waited for results to roll in, the candidate tweeted to supporters, “Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”
Clinton, a fixture in American politics for decades, was hoping to become the first woman to serve as commander in chief. Her race against Trump, a celebrity businessman with no political experience, was among the nastiest in recent memory, exposing and deepening the nation’s economic and racial divides.
Exit polls underscored the deep divisions that have defined the 2016 contest. Women nationwide supported Clinton by a double-digit margin, while men were significantly more likely to back Trump. More than half of white voters backed the Republican, while nearly 9 in 10 blacks and two-thirds of Hispanics voted for the Democrat.
Democrats, as well as some Republicans, expected Trump’s unconventional candidacy would damage down-ballot races and even flip some reliably red states in the presidential race. But Trump held on to Republican territory, including in Georgia and Utah, where Clinton’s campaign confidently invested resources.
Clinton carried Virginia, Nevada and Colorado.
The 45th president will inherit an anxious nation, deeply divided by economic and educational opportunities, race and culture. The economy has rebounded from the depths of recession, though many Americans have yet to benefit. New terror threats from home and abroad have raised security fears.
Seven in 10 Americans who went to the polls Tuesday said immigrants now in the country illegally should be allowed to stay, while just a quarter said they should be deported. More than half oppose building a border wall, according to the exit polls, which were conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.
The Republican Party’s tortured relationship with its nominee was evident right up to the end. Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura Bush declined to back Trump, instead selecting “none of the above” when they voted for president, according to spokesman Freddy Ford.
Trump set both parties on edge when he refused to say in the third and final debate whether he would accept the election’s results, citing with no evidence the possibility of a rigged outcome. His statement threatened to undermine a fundamental pillar of American democracy and raised the prospect that his fervent supporters would not view Clinton as a legitimate president if she won.
Asked Tuesday in an interview with Fox News if he would accept the election results, Trump continued to demur, saying “We’re going to see how things play out.”
