Washington, DC – Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the US Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.

With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.

Trump vowed at his Mar-a-Lago resort early on Wednesday to “heal” the nation, to fix its borders and to deliver a strong and prosperous economy after millions of his voters turned to him amid frustration over high prices for food and housing and embraced his plans for a crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

The victory validates his bare-knuckle approach to politics. He attacked his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in deeply personal – often misogynistic and racist – terms as he pushed an apocalyptic picture of a country overrun by violent migrants. The coarse rhetoric, paired with an image of hypermasculinity, resonated with angry voters – particularly men – in a deeply polarised nation.

“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” Trump told throngs of cheering supporters in Florida even before his victory was confirmed.

In state after state, Trump outperformed what he did in the 2020 election while Harris failed to do as well as Joe Biden did in winning the presidency four years ago. Upon taking office again, Trump also will work with a Senate that will now be in Republican hands, while control of the House hadn’t been determined.

“We’ve been through so much together, and today you showed up in record numbers to deliver a victory,” Trump said. “This was something special and we’re going to pay you back.”

In his second term, Trump has vowed to pursue an agenda centred on dramatically reshaping the federal government and pursuing retribution against his perceived enemies.

Trump will inherit a range of challenges when he assumes office on January 20, including heightened political polarisation and global crises that are testing America’s influence abroad.

The results cap a historically tumultuous and competitive election season that included two assassination attempts targeting Trump and a shift to a new Democratic nominee just a month before the party’s convention.

His win against Harris, the first woman of colour to lead a major party ticket, marks the second time he has defeated a female rival in a general election. Harris, the current vice-president, rose to the top of the ticket after Biden exited the race amid alarm about his advanced age. Despite an initial surge of energy around her campaign, she struggled during a compressed timeline to convince disillusioned voters that she represented a break from an unpopular administration.

The vice-president has not publicly spoken since the race was called. Her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said she would speak on Wednesday: “She will be back here tomorrow.”

Trump’s vice-president 40-year-old Ohio Sen JD Vance will become the highest-ranking member of the millennial generation in the US government.

Congratulations started pouring in from world leaders even before Trump’s victory was announced.

There will be far fewer checks on Trump when he returns to the White House. He has plans to swiftly enact a sweeping agenda that would transform nearly every aspect of American government. His GOP critics in Congress have largely been defeated or retired. Federal courts are now filled with judges he appointed. The US Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-appointed justices, issued a ruling earlier this year affording presidents broad immunity from prosecution.

Trump’s language and behaviour during the campaign sparked growing warnings from Democrats and some Republicans about shocks to democracy that his return to power would bring. He repeatedly praised strongman leaders, warned that he would deploy the military to target political opponents he labelled the “enemy from within,” threatened to take action against news organisations for unfavourable coverage and suggested suspending the Constitution.

Agencies