The Next President of the United States

It started with West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. The electoral maps were fresh and full of promise for either candidate at that point.

The next states to turn red were Oklahoma, Tennessee and Mississippi, marking 48 electoral votes to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s 68.
But then, there seemed to be a shift in momentum.
Suddenly, Republican nominee Donald Trump had secured the votes of 13 states compared to Clinton’s eight and the District of Columbia.
Meanwhile, the key states of New Hampshire, Virginia and Ohio fluctuated wildly in favor of both major party candidates. Florida, with its highly prized 29 electoral votes, held the race transfixed by its nail-biter status with both candidates earning just below 50 percent of the vote.
The electoral vote count approached a balance in favor of Trump: 136 to Clinton’s 104, putting him halfway to the number of votes needed to hand him the Electoral College and thus the office of the presidency, but the battle still waged on as America watched on television and through social media with anxiety.
“There are going to be people tonight who fall off of their sobriety records,” commented Jake Andreas, sophomore and Clinton supporter. “I need my therapy companion animal right now.”
States like Iowa, Nevada and Utah showed up as more races which had registered themselves as races too close to call with initial precinct reporting, adding more stress and depth to the condition of the race.
Still, the race seemed to favor Trump from this point on as Clinton began to trail him in the popular vote. Whereas she received broad support from major metropolitan areas including Miami, Cleveland and New York, he maintained a commanding voter lead in large rural areas of states throughout the South and the Midwest which outweighed the Democratic strongholds.
In the end, the entire election turned out in his favor, thereby leaving him as the President-elect of the United States of America.
The victory of Trump, a former reality TV star, businessman and investor marks a notable shift in the state of modern American presidential politics. After managing a campaign bogged down with controversy, scandal and supposed chaos, the team behind the presumptive 45th President pulled their act together to succeed in their fight for the White House.
“Now is the time for America to bind the wounds of division,” said Trump as he accepted the election of the American people in front of a group of proud supporters. “It’s time to come together as one united people.”
In the days following the election, many voices are expected to speak out on what has been the most intense campaign in generations.
One voice notably absent from the sea of comments heard on Tuesday evening was that of defeated candidate Clinton, who is expected to speak sometime today.
At least until then, president-elect Trump will enjoy knowing he was the ultimate winner of the long and tedious 2016 campaign.

Photo courtesy of TheOdysseyOnline.com.