Not many people expected to learn the result of the 2024 presidential race on Election Day, with many pundits predicting the results would take days.
So, what happened to make the Electoral College map a clear victory for President Elect Donald Trump so fast? Credit early voting, well-trained campaign staffs and a clear mandate, county by county in important swing states, that Trump was the victor. There were no ties, no challenges, no calls for recounts, no questions about who actually won.
Rich Fitzgerald, the former Allegheny County Executive who now heads the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, says Trump improved his 2020 performance in a variety of counties outside of the city of Pittsburgh.
“If you go around the Westmoreland, Beaver, Butler, Indiana (Counties), it looks like Donald Trump did a point or two better,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald adds the same appears to be true around the United States.
“County after county, precinct after precinct, he seemed to do a little better this time than he did four years ago,” said Fitzgerald.
Exit polling showed voters listed their top two issues as the economy and immigration and those two issues garnered Trump strong support. Pollsters could see as votes came in for important states that it wasn't looking good for Kamala Harris.
Attention now turns to the transition of power and what the incoming Trump administration's immediate plans are. Is retribution against political enemies on his agenda, as so many Democrats warned, overturning Obamacare, weakening Social Security, pushing a national abortion ban?
Trump gave a glimpse during his victory speech where he praised anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr and promised expanded drilling for oil in the U.S.
“He’s a great guy (Kennedy), he really means it, he wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him go to it,” he said. “I just said, but, Bobby, leave the oil to me. We have more liquid gold—oil and gas—we have more liquid gold than any country in the world. More than Saudi Arabia.”
“Bobby, stay away from the liquid gold. Other than that, go have a good time, Bobby,” Trump added.
Fitzgerald said it remains to be seen if the incoming president can repeal the Affordable Care Act or begin the mass deportations he promised to enact.
“Are they going to focus on fixing some of the things that they talked about? Whether it’s immigration, whether it’s the economy and inflation and things along those lines to, really again, try to improve people’s lives,” Fitzgerald said.