Harris loses swing state Michigan, where many Arab Americans supported Trump

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost the swing state of Michigan, where Arab and Muslim communities' votes are decisive, according to The Associated Press.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump secured 15 electoral votes in the battleground state, where majority of American Muslims felt betrayed and were angered by the Biden-Harris administration's unconditional support for Israel, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

Trump surpassed 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the 2024 US presidential election, AP said on Wednesday.

He defeated Harris in Tuesday’s race, winning 292 Electoral College votes and securing his spot as the nation’s 47th president. Harris has 224 votes.

Trump also led Harris by about 5 million votes in the popular count, while getting around 71 million votes.

He won key swing states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Missouri, Utah, Montana, Kansas, Iowa, and Idaho.

Trump has thanked Americans "for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president," referring to his earlier term in office, 2017-2021, before Joe Biden won four years as the 46th US president.

"This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again," he said.

The win makes Trump only the second US president to serve non-consecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland, who served two separate terms in the late 1800s, with President Benjamin Harrison in between.

The 2024 election also benefited the Republican party as a whole, as they shifted the balance of power away from Democrats by taking control of the US Senate 52 to 42, with several races still being counted, but only 51 needed to take the majority.

Control of the House of Representatives is yet still to be determined, as several races have not yet been called. So far, Republicans lead Democrats by a narrow margin, 210 to 181, with the magic number of 218 needed to take control of Congress.

On the state level, Republicans also fared well, with the balance of power now being 27 Republican governors to 23 Democratic governors.