In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Nov. 6, former President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, according to unofficial vote counts, setting him on track to be inaugurated in January as the 47th president of the United States. Trump’s achievement is historic, making him only the second president to ever serve two nonconsecutive terms and the first felon elected to the presidency.
Trump’s victory hinged on a handful of key swing states: Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Georgia and North Carolina were called by the Associated Press early in the night. Determining a winner in Pennsylvania took several more hours, however, proving to be just as tight a race as many pollsters predicted in the days leading up to the election.
NBC called Pennsylvania and the race for Trump in the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 6, with the AP following not long after. As of Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m., the AP reported that Trump won Pennsylvania by a margin of just 2%, or 133,665 votes, though final numbers had not yet been determined.
Throughout the presidential race, both campaigns aimed to win over young college-aged voters. Harris in July called young voters “key” to her victory and leaned into messaging surrounding reproductive rights and affordable housing. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, focused specifically on mobilizing young men.
As polls began to close on election night, across the country, and in states such as Pennsylvania, some college students stood in lines with wait times upwards of three hours to cast their votes, according to The Washington Post. As vote counts started rolling in, reporters highlighted the energy and dedication they said young voters were bringing to their polling locations.
At Allegheny on Tuesday, over 80 students rode a shuttle bus to their polling locations, according to Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Political Participation Andrew Bloeser. In collaboration with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, Bloeser organized the shuttle to run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
President Ron Cole, ’87, also rode the shuttle alongside students during a Gator Day event called “Shuttle to the Polls with President Cole.” This year is the first time Gator Day and Election Day coincided.
Bloeser said few students experienced difficulties voting and that the number of students who had contacted the CPP about problems was in the single digits.
“I think the Center for Political Participation(CPP)’s Election Day efforts were largely successful,” Bloeser wrote Wednesday in an email to The Campus. “Many students made use of the shuttle service and I know that a lot of other students who registered to vote in Meadville walked to their polling location because the weather was nice. We also know that a lot of students were planning to vote by mail.”
Ultimately, young college-aged voters alone in Pennsylvania could not carry the Harris campaign to victory.
“You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world,” Harris said during her concession speech on Wednesday afternoon. “And so to everyone who is watching, do not despair. This is a time to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.”
In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump praised his strong swing state wins and called his campaign “the greatest political movement of all time.”
“This will truly be the golden age of America,” Trump said. “This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again.”
Notably, the Trump campaign won Erie County on Tuesday, a common bellwether county pollsters looked to in the weeks leading up to the election for an indication of how Pennsylvania would swing. Since 2008, each candidate to win Erie County has also won their presidential campaign; Trump’s recent victory is the fifth consecutive campaign to do so.
In a campus-wide email Wednesday morning, Cole reaffirmed the importance of Allegheny’s Statement of Community in the coming weeks.
“Acknowledging what has been a polarized election cycle, as we move beyond election day I reaffirm that at Allegheny College we value discourse and debate and hold high standards for the quality of that debate,” Cole wrote. “We think critically about competing claims, seek facts and evidence, and work toward discovering constructive solutions to problems. We engage in the debates of our time in a manner that reflects respect for the dignity of others. Let’s model what we value in an Allegheny education and community.”
In down-ballot races, Republicans also won big on Tuesday, with the AP reporting Republicans gained control of the Senate and were on track to retain control of the House of Representatives. Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey’s race against Republican challenger Dave McCormick was a key battle with significant implications for control of the Senate. As of Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m., the AP reported that Casey and McCormick were neck and neck, with Casey trailing just 31,052 votes behind McCormick .
In the House of Representatives Pennsylvania District 16, Democratic challenger Preston Nouri garnered over 33% of the vote (according to the AP’s unofficial vote counts), failing to unseat Representative Mike Kelly, who was re-elected into his eighth two-year term. Pennsylvania House Representative Brad Roae also won his 10th two-year term against Democratic challenger Michael Walker to represent Pennsylvania District 6.