Donald Trump Wins U.S. Presidential Election, Set to Become 47th President

Republican nominee Donald Trump is poised to become the 47th President of the United States after defeating his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.

Once in office, Trump becomes only the second president to return to the White House for a second non-consecutive term. The last and only President to achieve that feat was Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms, from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.

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Donald Trump Nears Historic Return to White House with Key Swing State Wins

Trump, who was the president between 2017 and 2021, is set to emulate a feat previously achieved by Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms as the US president between 1885-1889 and 1893-1897.

Trump is close to winning the required 270 electoral votes, after bagging the key swing states of Georgia and Pennsylvania.

He is also poised to be the first Republican candidate to win the popular vote in the last 20 years. In the 2016 presidential polls, Trump failed to win the popular vote despite winning 304 out of the 538 electoral votes.

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Trump and Cleveland: Parallels Between Two Non-Consecutive Terms

In the 1888 polls, Cleveland, a Democrat, narrowly lost to Republican Benjamin Harrison. But unlike Trump, he had won the popular vote by a margin of over 90,000 votes. He made a triumphant comeback four years later, winning 277 out of the 444 electoral votes.

The parallels between Trump and Cleveland run much deeper than just winning non-consecutive terms.

Cleveland, like Trump, was a New Yorker. Both had never served in the federal administration or in the US Congress before becoming the president.

In the run-up to their first elections, both pitched themselves as political “outsiders”, promising to clean the ‘corrupt’ system in Washington DC.

Both New Yorkers also had to face formidable opponents to win non-consecutive terms.

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Similarities in Electoral Comebacks, but Key Differences in Political Experience and Popular Vote History

Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 and is set to defeat Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024. Harris’ adviser has said the VP will not speak on election night and the campaign believes they “still have votes to count”.

On the other hand, Cleveland won against James G Blaine, a leading Republican of his time, in 1884 before defeating President Harrison in 1892. Interestingly, Clinton and Blaine had previously served as the Secretary of State and were accused of corruption during their presidential bids.

But the political parallels between Trump & Cleveland end there.

While Cleveland was an outsider to Washington DC, he had previously served as the Governor of New York State. However, Trump never had any government experience before assuming the presidency in 2017.

Moreover, unlike Cleveland, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 as well as 2020.

Incidentally, Trump shares the record with Harrison, who had lost the popular vote in 1888 and 1892.