The former president Donald Trump prematurely declared victory in the 2024 presidential race, telling supporters in an overnight speech that he had won the election because votes were still being counted and several states had yet to be called in the historically close race for White house.

Trump may be declared the winner by the Associated Press and other outlets within hours, but he still announced his victory before an independent news organization announced him as the winner.

AP called Pennsylvania for Trump, a victory in the central battleground state puts the former president four electoral votes away from officially defeating Harris. A highly likely victory for the former president in Alaska or any of the notable battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona or Nevada — would send him back to the Oval Office.

Around 2:30 a.m. ET, Trump took to a podium set up on a stage at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, and was immediately flanked by his wife, Melania Trump, five children and their partners , managing partner, JD Vance and his wife, and several other campaign staff and supporters.

“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected as the 47th president — and the 45th president,” Trump said. “I will fight for you, your family and your future. Every day I will fight for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we deliver the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the Golden Age. This is magnificent.”

Several states had not yet been called to the polls, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona. It was after he was projected to win Pennsylvania that the former president appeared to have decided to take the stage and declare himself the winner.

Trump told reporters earlier this week that he would like to declare victory on Election Day, even though it was widely understood that it could take several days for the race to be called as votes are counted in what shows the election should be an incredibly close race. . This is the second presidential race in a row where Trump has declared himself the winner before any projected appeal from a major news network or outlet. As the election unfolds and votes are cast, officials hand them out voting data at certain major news outlets, where in-house experts analyze polls, early voting and other election-related information to a point where a winner can be comfortably declared.

In 2020, Trump set the stage for his bogus claim and announced that he had won overnight after Election Day, only to see how the votes came in for Joe Biden over the next few days. The former vice president was finally declared the winner of the 2020 election on Saturday, four days after election day. However, Trump has never accepted the fact that he lost the 2020 election and to this day holds rallies using the false idea that the presidential election lacked integrity and he was robbed of his rightful place in the White House.

At a rally on Sunday, Trump stepped up that kind of rhetoric, telling his supporters that the election had already been stolen and falsely saying that states had added 12 voting days and that voters at polling places in battleground states are rejected, along with various other stories about the lack of votes. He also said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after Biden’s victory.
On a call with reporters last week, a Harris campaign official said they “fully expect” Trump to falsely claim victory Tuesday night and that they are ready with a plan of attack to flood TV, radio and the networks of social media with calls for calm as the vote is counted and verifiable information is collected in opposition to Trump’s false narrative of a presidential victory.

The court of public opinion is the front line in these kinds of situations, and certainly the most important arena in the event of a premature declaration of victory. While one side can start a false narrative, the other can always publicly push back with cold, hard facts. On Monday, an unnamed official with the Harris campaign he told Reuters that he is prepared to “get on TV and deliver the truth and tap into a wide network of people who can use their influence to push back.” This tapping into his extensive network is certainly in line with the star power the campaign has enlisted in recent weeks to get out the vote. Lady gaga, Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey, among others, appeared on stage with the vice president to show their support and Black male celebrities advocated for Harris’ plan to shore up that voting bloc, which polls have shown pulling away this year.