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Donald Trump made the transition from reality TV star and business mogul to president-elect of the United States of America Tuesday night.
Trump, a political novice, unexpectedly crushed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the polls, clinching 276 electoral college votes to put him over the 270 votes necessary to stake his claim as the United States’ next president.
Tuesday taught America to expect the unexpected as Trump sailed to victory.
“Ours was not a campaign, but an incredible and great movement,” Trump explained.
Indeed, it was a movement like no other.
The 2016 presidential election was a political war waged over a multitude of intense issues, from race to gender, the economy and the sheer likeability factor of the two most unlikeable candidates in presidential history. Many mainstream Republicans denounced Trump. Pollsters repeatedly denied he would win, and Democrats underestimated a core base of his supporters which led him to pull the rug from beneath Clinton's feet.
In a speech given after results were called, Trump explained he would prioritize mending the broken parts of the political system.
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division,” he said in a speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “It is time for us to come together as one united people. It’s time.”
Trump said Clinton called to concede and to congratulate him, though she had not made an official statement at the time of this article’s publication.
Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, told supporters at her election watch party to go home and get some sleep as they awaited the final tally results.
Trump's victory extended far and wide across the country, while Clinton maintainted typically Democratic stronghold states.
Trump barreled through Florida on Election Day, taking 49 percent of the vote while Clinton took 47 percent.
Both candidates had been out in full force in the Sunshine State in recent weeks, making their final appearances Monday statewide. Trump’s rallies drew thousands of people each and every time and became more like rock shows while Clinton’s rallies drew smaller numbers and were less of a spectacle and more of a standard political gathering.
Clinton enlisted the help of political allies like Barack Obama, Joe Biden and even had celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z attempt to mobilize the vote in her favor.
It didn’t work.
In the end, Trump carried 134,000 votes in Florida, a state which many surveys had predicted would go to Clinton.
Clinton had a good showing in the historically blue counties of Miami-Dade and Broward, but Trump swept much of the rest of the state, leading tremendously among white voters.
Florida’s 29 electoral votes were essential to Trump’s victory, though his win came as a surprise to many since he was down in many polls and some criticized him for not running a run-of-the-mill ground game campaign.
Instead, Trump honed in on his own personal knowledge of Florida, a state where he resides part-time.
Most major polls -- even exit polls -- showed Trump losing Florida on Tuesday. Defying all odds, Trump proved the naysayers wrong.
Tuesday was a good day for the GOP, especially in Florida, where they defeated Democrats in most state Senate races and House races. Republicans also had a good showing nationwide -- not only will a Republican be at the helm of the U.S., but the party will also control the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump is also poised to pick new U.S. Supreme Court justices and shift the focus of the nation’s highest court to a more conservative environment.
Trump will be sworn into office in January.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.