Election 2024 live updates: A trifecta for Trump? Harris set to speak

Former President Donald Trump was headed back to the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris was expected to formally concede Wednesday after a hard-fought race for the right to lead the nation.

Foes of Trump, however, promised to provide his administration no honeymoon. Hours after Trump's victory, advocacy groups were setting their sights on the president-elect, who will take office Jan. 20.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought many controversial Trump policies during his first administration, said Wednesday that it already has a battle plan and would take action "the minute he takes the oath of office."

Kris Brown, president of the gun-safety group Brady, called Trump's election "troubling" but pledged to continue the fight to prevent gun violence: "Even though we won’t have a friend in the White House, Brady isn’t giving up an inch."

Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous called Trump's first term a "disaster for climate progress" and pledged to "challenge Trump’s dangerous proposals in court (and) keep the pressure on banks and big corporations to clean up their act."

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Those advocacy groups will be facing a president whose party could emerge with majorities in the the House and Senate. GOP candidates picked up several pivotal Senate seats, including in West Virginia and Ohio, to seize control of the Senate. Results were still coming in for dozens of tightly contested House seats, but Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement saying the "latest data and trends indicate that when all the votes are tabulated, Republicans will have held our majority."

Keep up with the USA TODAY Network's live coverage of the presidential election and downballot fights.

The controversial conservative playbook Project 2025, a highly criticized "presidential transition project" created by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, could draw intense interest when the Trump administration takes power in January. Harris attempted to tie the former president to the 900-page document that outlines extreme policy positions, such as limiting abortion access and mass deportation, that project supporters hope Trump will implement.

Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from the project, claiming in a July Truth Social post to "know nothing abut Project 2025" despite many of the project's creators having close ties to the previous Trump administration.

− Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Sam Woodward

Harris will address supporters at Howard University in Washington, tentatively at 4 p.m. ET, a source familiar with the plans confirmed. She is expected to formally concede the race.

Harris had been set to publicly address her followers at an election night party at Howard, her alma mater, but the vice president stayed at her residence as her path to victory narrowed. Trump secured the 270 electoral votes needed to become the next president after he was projected the winner of Wisconsin around 5:40 a.m. ET.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that the narrowly divided House appears set to remain in Republican control, which he credited to widespread support for secure borders and reducing inflation. The House will participate in a unified GOP government with the Senate and White House after victories in critical swing districts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, Johnson said.

“The latest data and trends indicate that when all the votes are tabulated, Republicans will have held our majority, even though we faced a map with 18 Biden-won seats,” Johnson said in a statement. “I look forward to working with President Trump and a Republican Senate to deliver as Speaker of the House on the mandate entrusted to us by the American people."

Four years ago, Trump by most measures was a political pariah. Now he’s a president in waiting. Rising from the ashes after a bonfire of scandal fueled by four criminal prosecutions, two impeachments and a failed insurrection, Trump swept aside dire warnings that he could bring American democracy to an end and instead used the democratic system as the ultimate vindication.

Now he will become the second president in history − the first since Grover Cleveland more than century ago − to serve nonconsecutive terms.

A politician rejected by voters in 2020 and abandoned by many in his party after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump is poised to again become the most powerful man in the world. The convicted felon is now the incoming commander in chief.

Weeks of polling had showed the candidates competing in a razor-close election, but in the end Trump won over enough pivotal states with his focus on inflation and immigration. Harris won much of the West Coast and Northeast and Trump clinched victories in the South. But Trump also picked up North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, pushing him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes to win the race. Read more here on how Trump's historic comeback happened.

− Zac Anderson

The election victory will delay and possibly wipe out Trump’s four pending criminal cases, according to legal experts. Trump has made clear he would derail the efforts of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith in his two federal cases. And action in two state cases in New York and Georgia are likely to be postponed until he is done serving in the White House.

“I think we are in uncharted territory,” said Alexander Reinert, a Cardozo School of Law professor, said of the state cases.

Trump has said he could fire Smith or pardon himself. “It’s so easy − I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Oct. 24.

What the election results mean for you: Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter for updates and exclusive analysis.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought many of Donald Trump’s controversial policies during his first administration, said Wednesday that it already has a plan for Trump’s next term. The ACLU was the first group in 2017 to challenge Trump’s ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries, one of 434 legal actions it took against the first Trump administration.

This time, Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said the ACLU is ready to fight Trump’s vow to seek retribution against his enemies, to launch a “mass deportation” of at least 11 million immigrants living in the United States without authorization and other promises.

“We are ready to take action the minute Trump takes the oath of office,” Romero said in a statement. “When President-elect Trump targets immigrants, dissidents and his political opponents we will challenge him in the courts, in state legislatures and in the streets.”

Bomb threats believed to be emanating from Russia interrupted voting Tuesday across numerous battleground states, but a top U.S. cybersecurity official said they didn’t have a material impact on the election or voters’ ability to cast their ballots. Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a midnight press briefing that Tuesday's election did see some "minor" disruptive activities, including polling station evacuations and delays.

Easterly and other officials said the hoax bomb threats were sent to at least four states and were all deemed to be "non-credible."

“The point is this did not impact the ability of voters to cast their ballots or for their votes to be counted as cast,” Easterly said, commending the election officials on the ground in the states. “Ultimately they were able to demonstrate extensive resilience based on their preparations for it. … Overall I would call this a good news story for democracy.”

Eight states approved constitutional amendments or ballot initiatives Tuesday to prohibit noncitizens from voting, a key Republican priority even though state and federal laws already prohibit it and despite studies showing it almost never happens. All the states adopted the measures by 2-1 margins or better. The constitutional amendments typically approved a very simple change of phrasing about citizens voting to add “only” citizens may vote.

North Carolina and Wisconsin were key swing states that each adopted constitutional amendments. Other states were Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in our elections,” Michael Whatley, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, said when filing lawsuits against states to prevent noncitizen voting. “Yet time and again, we have seen Democrat officials oppose basic safeguards and dismantle election integrity provisions, intentionally opening the door to non-citizen voting in our elections.”

Studies by the Brennan Center for Justice and the libertarian Cato Institute have found noncitizen voting is essentially nonexistent. A Georgia audit of voter rolls this year found 20 noncitizens among 8.2 million registered voters.

Harris’ candidacy demonstrated much of the advantages women have when they run for office, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. She was a formidable fundraiser. She connected with voters on issues important to her and to them. Her identify gave her a unique perspective on overlooked issues, the research center said in a statement Wednesday.

But the race also exemplified research that shows obstacles female candidates face, primarily unequal expectations. That’s particularly true for women of color, the center said. While women have held nearly every political office in America, they still hold fewer than a third of all political seats at every level of office – and still haven’t reached the highest office in the land.

“Progress is not inevitable,” the center said. “We have made great strides, yes, but there are many steps left on the path to parity.”

Trump has run for president three times, winning the office in 2016 and now in 2024. So, can he run again in 2028? The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits one person from serving more than two terms as president.

All presidents served no more than two terms until Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected president four times from 1932 to 1944. In 1947, two years after Roosevelt's death, a push began in the House of Representative to limit presidents to two terms. After some revisions by the Senate, the proposed amendment was approved and sent out to states, It was rtified on Feb. 27, 1951.

− Chad Murphy, Cincinnati Enquirer

From pariah to president:From pariah to president: Donald Trump rises from the ashes to reclaim the White House

An appearance on ABC's "The View" last month provided a friendly forum for Harris to introduce herself to Americans unfamiliar with her story. But Harris struggled to explain what she would do differently than President Joe Biden. “Not a thing that comes to mind,” the incumbent vice president told the hosts.

Following Trump’s victory over Harris, that television moment underscored a fatal flaw of Harris’ campaign that doomed her election bid – an inability to separate herself from an unpopular president whose approval ratings have hovered around 40% for most of his four years in the White House. Read more details on why her pitch as a "new generation of leadership" failed to win over the nation.

− Joey Garrison

Has Harris conceded?What to know after Trump won the White House

Trump won the first swing state called on election night, North Carolina. He also notched victories in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The former president also picked up Republican strongholds across the country on Tuesday, from Texas to Montana and South Carolina. He won a few states that used to be swing states but have trended further to the right in recent years, including Ohio and Florida.

How Kamala Harris lost the election:The fatal flaws in a doomed election bid

Harris picked up Democratic strongholds across the country, from California to New York and Illinois. She also easily notched several New England states such as Vermont and Massachusetts, as well as the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.