File photo of a cannabis plant by Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

NEW YORK — Voters in some states weighed in Tuesday on several of most volatile issues facing America — gun control, marijuana legalization, the death penalty and the right of a terminally ill person to get a doctor’s help in dying.

Proposals addressing those topics were among more than 150 measures appearing on statewide ballots. California led the pack with 17 ballot questions, including one that would require actors in porn movies to wear condoms during filming of sexual intercourse. Another would ban single-use plastic grocery bags.

California was among five states — along with Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — voting on whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Three others — Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota — decided whether to permit marijuana for medical purposes. Montanans voted on whether to ease restrictions on an existing medical marijuana law.

Collectively, it was the closest the U.S. has ever come to a national referendum on marijuana.

If “yes” votes prevail across the board, more than 23 percent of the U.S. population will live in states where recreational pot is legal. The jurisdictions where that’s already the case — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state and the District of Columbia — have less than 6 percent of the population.

Another hot-button issue — gun control — was on the ballot in four states, including California, which already has some of the nation’s toughest gun-related laws. Proposition 63 would outlaw possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, require permits to buy ammunition and extend California’s unique program that allows authorities to seize firearms from owners who bought guns legally but are no longer allowed to own them.

In Maine and Nevada, a group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent millions promoting ballot measures that would require background checks on nearly all gun sales and transfers. Supporters say the changes would close gaps in the federal system that allow felons, domestic abusers and the mentally ill to buy firearms from private sellers at gun shows and online without a background check.

Washington state had a ballot measure that would allow judges to issue orders temporarily seizing guns from individuals who are deemed a threat.

California was one of three states voting on capital punishment, with two competing measures on its ballot. One would repeal the death penalty, which California has rarely used in recent decades. The other would speed up appeals so convicted murderers are actually executed.

In Nebraska, voters were deciding whether to reinstate the death penalty, which the Legislature repealed last year. Oklahoma residents voted on whether to make it harder to abolish capital punishment.

Among the other topics addressed by ballot measures:

— MINIMUM WAGE: Arizona, Colorado and Maine were considering phased-in $12 minimum hourly wages by 2020. In Washington state, where the minimum wage is $9.47 an hour, voters weighed raising that to $13.50 an hour by 2020. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

— HEALTH CARE: Coloradans voted on a proposal to set up the nation’s first universal health care system. The measure would set up a $25 billion-a-year health care system funded by payroll taxes, replacing the system of paying private health insurers for care and opting out of the federal health care law.

— AID IN DYING: Another Colorado measure would allow physicians to assist a terminally ill person in dying. Physician-assisted death is currently legal in California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. And Montana’s Supreme Court has ruled that doctors can use a patient’s request for life-ending medication as a defense against any criminal charges.

— BILINGUAL EDUCATION: A measure in California would roll back a voter-approved 1998 ban on teaching English in any language other than English. That would give school districts the option to bring back bilingual education.

— VOTING METHODS: Maine residents had a chance to make their state the first with a ranked-choice voting system, which is used in a handful of cities. The system allows voters to rank their choices of candidates. If no one gets more than 50 percent of the first-place choices, ballots are then counted at the state level in multiple rounds in which last-place candidates are eliminated until someone wins by a majority.

— TAXES: Maine voters were deciding whether to approve a 3 percent tax on people earning more than $200,000 a year to support an education fund for teachers and students. An Oregon measure would impose a 2.5 percent tax on corporate sales that exceed $25 million — with revenue earmarked for education, health and senior services. An initiative in Washington state sought to promote cleaner energy by imposing a tax of $25 per metric ton on carbon emissions from fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal and natural gas.

— CURBING SALES TAXES: Missouri voters were the first in the nation to decide whether to amend their state constitution to prohibit sales taxes from being expanded to services such as auto repairs, haircuts, legal work and financial accounting.

— TOBACCO TAXES: Votes in four states — California, Colorado, Missouri and North Dakota — were deciding whether to raise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The California measure would raise cigarette taxes by $2 per pack, raising an estimated $1 billion in the first year, with much of the money earmarked for health care for people with low incomes.

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An image in the Twinks4Trump photo series, part of Lucian Wintrich’s pro-Trump #DaddyWillSaveUs art exhibit. Photo courtsey of Lucian Wintrich

The pro-Trump art show #DaddyWillSaveUs had a hard time finding a venue.

Just days before it was scheduled to debut last month, the New York gallery that had agreed to host the exhibit backed out, forcing the show’s creator, Lucian Wintrich, to scramble last-minute. He found an alternate location a couple miles away for his show, which featured nude male models in Trump’s signature Make America Great Again hats.

While one side of the WallPlay gallery displayed a feminist exhibit, the other side hosted Wintrich’s pro-Trump art. The controversy that followed after the exhibit opened last month prompted Laura O’Reilly, the gallery’s founder, to issue a public apology, a rarity for the art world.

“I had no intention of facilitating a platform for hate,” O’Reilly said in a statement. The divisive exhibition at O’Reilly’s WallPlay gallery was one of several controversial pieces of political art that have popped up around the country as the 2016 presidential election draws to a close.

Therapeutic films, pop-up naked statues, and fake graveyards are among the projects that artists across the political spectrum have used to make bold statements during this year’s divisive election season.

Modern art often provides an alternative medium for people to display their cultural and political values, but with Trump and Hillary Clinton garnering the highest unfavorable ratings of any major party nominees in modern history, the art this election cycle has been unusually dark in tone and substance.

Doomocracy, a political house of horrors created by the contemporary artist Pedro Reyes, sold out quickly when the show went up at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in New York last month. The show, which features a haunting maze of classrooms, actors with plastic guns, a SWAT team shoving groups of people into armored cars, and an eerie wooden replica of the Statue of Liberty, among other exhibits, was designed to symbolize the dark rhetoric of the presidential race, Reyes said.

“The idea of a haunted house was in itself a Trojan horse, where we could deal with subjects that otherwise people find off-putting,” Reyes said in an interview. “Politics can be a theme without being boring.”

Many artists have chosen to display their frustration, anger and other emotions connected to the election in public spaces.

A voting room with actor Marjorie Conn in the role of a poll worker. The interactive exhibit is part of Doomocracy, a political house of horrors art show that premiered in New York last month. Photo Courtesy of Will Star

“Art is operating in so many different venues and platforms that I think the number of audiences being reached has expanded significantly,” said Carin Kuoni, the director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.

During the primaries, two artists named David Gleeson and Mary Mihelic bought a tour bus that the Trump campaign had used in Iowa (and was selling on Craigslist), and transformed it into a performance art piece meant to symbolize their disdain for the GOP candidate.

Since October 2015, Mihelic and Gleeson have crisscrossed the country, driving the bus to 30 states and roughly three dozen political rallies.

Predictably, many supporters at Trump events reacted negatively to the bus. But to Gleeson and Mihelic’s surprise, several Clinton supporters also criticized the project. “We went to a Hillary rally and people were driving by calling us fascists and Nazis,” Mihelic said.

Others thought the bus was funny. “We hope this is the beginning of the process” of finding common ground between Democrats and Republicans, Mihelic said.

David Gleeson and Mary Mihelic turned a tour bus into an art performance project, and drove it to more than 30 states around the country this year. Photo courtesy of David Gleeson and Mary Mihelic.

Several works of art have also shown up along the U.S.-Mexico border, where Trump has proposed building a wall as part of his plan to curb illegal immigration. Trump has insisted that Mexico would pay for the fall.

After Mihelic and Gleeson completed a tiny replica of a border wall, they sent the bill to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Nieto has not responded.

On the other side of the political aisle, Lucian Wintrich, a photographer who created Twinks4Trump, a photo series of gay men who support Trump, said the election had inspired him to be a “a subversive force against the myth of the left dominating the art world.”

“This election has helped a lot of conservative artists to ‘come out of the closet’ in a way,” said Wintrich, whose photo series appeared in the #DaddyWillSavesUs show. But “supporting Trump does come at a cost,” Wintrich said, adding that he has faced criticism from colleagues and critics on social media.

“We are at a unique point in American history where conservatives are part of the arts and part of culture, and progressive puritans are trying to shut us down,” said Wintrich, who is gay. “Our art show served as a slap in the face to the art world and to progressive identity politics.”

Major art institutions have also joined independent artists in creating politically-themed content this year. As part of a larger project focused on political campaigns, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit is asking people to watch the election results inside Mobile Homestead, a public art project disguised as a mobile home.

Art Basel, the world’s largest contemporary art fair, is coming to America in the first week of December. The fair will take place in Florida, one of the key battleground states this election, just days before the members of the Electoral College move forward with their final vote.

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Graphic by PBS NewsHour

A jury awarded $3 million in damages Monday to a former University of Virginia administrator in a defamation case against Rolling Stone magazine.

Former associate dean of students Nicole Eramo sued the magazine, publisher and author, claiming a discredited article on a student’s rape at the university portrayed Eramo as ignoring the rape. Eramo had asked the court for $7.5 million in damages.

“There’s really no amount of money that could put Nicole back to the day before the article,” Eramo’s attorney, Libby Locke, told reporters in response to the jury’s decision.

The jury decided Friday that Rolling Stone, its publisher and writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely were guilty of defamation with actual malice.

The jury decided this week that Eramo was entitled to $2 million for Erdely’s statements and $1 million for the republication of the article on Dec. 5 by Rolling Stone and Wenner Media, the Associated Press reported.

Rolling Stone lawyers did not immediately comment on the monetary damages.

Rolling Stone will pay the damages of the three-week trial. The magazine faces another lawsuit from Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity in which the student at the center of the story said she was raped. The fraternity is asking for $25 million in damages, reported AP.

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Photo of U.S. Supreme Court by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seems inclined to allow Miami to sue banks for predatory lending practices among minority customers that led to foreclosures, declines in property taxes and dips in property values.

At least four of the eight justices appeared willing during arguments Tuesday to let the suits go forward under the anti-discrimination Fair Housing Act. Miami and other cities are trying a novel approach to hold banks accountable for the wave of foreclosures during the housing crisis that hit in 2007.

If the court splits 4 to 4, the decision of a lower court in favor of Miami would remain in place, but there would be no nationwide ruling addressing similar lawsuits by other cities.

Miami claims that Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup pursued a decade-long pattern of targeting African-American and Hispanic borrowers for costlier and riskier loans than those offered to white customers. The loans to minority homeowners went into default more quickly as well, the city says.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America appealed the lower court ruling to the Supreme Court, arguing that cities can’t use the Fair Housing Act to sue over reductions in tax revenues. The banks said the connection between a loan and the tax consequences is too tenuous. Citigroup did not appeal, though its lawsuit also would be affected by the high court ruling.

Neal Katyal, representing the banks, said a ruling for Miami could lead to lawsuits asking for “billions of dollars.”

Robert Peck, Miami’s lawyer, told the court that the banks are exaggerating the claims. “We said we lost millions of dollars,” Peck said, adding that similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Memphis, Tennessee, were settled for less than $10 million each.

During the Election Day-session, two justices who typically pepper lawyers with questions that often reveal how they view a case were uncharacteristically quiet. Justice Stephen Breyer asked only a couple of questions and Justice Samuel Alito did not ask any.

Some justices said they worried about opening the courthouse door to shop owners, gardeners and other companies that might lose business as a result of home foreclosures.

A decision in Bank of America v. Miami, 15-1111, and Wells Fargo v. Miami, 15-1112, is expected by June.

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North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (pictured) is locked in an election battle for governor with incumbent Republican Pat McCrory. Photo by Chris Keane/Reuters

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Republicans, who already control a solid majority of governorships, sought to add to their ranks Tuesday as voters picked chief executives in a dozen states.

Campaigns for governor shattered fundraising records in Missouri, drew national attention over transgender bathroom rights in North Carolina and took an unusual twist in Indiana, where Gov. Mike Pence pulled out to become the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The governors’ contests are part of a battle for statehouse supremacy that also includes nearly 6,000 state legislative elections. Heading into Tuesday, Republicans controlled more than two-thirds of the nation’s legislative chambers, as well as 31 of the 50 governors’ offices.

The states in play Tuesday include:

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NORTH CAROLINA

In the nation’s highest-profile race, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory faces a strong challenge from Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The race has become a referendum on North Carolina’s rightward shift under McCrory, highlighted by a law that limits anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and directs transgender people to use public restrooms matching the gender on their birth certificates. Cooper has vowed to try to repeal the law as governor.

Recent flooding from Hurricane Matthew has also played into the race, as McCrory has been at the public forefront of response and recovery efforts.

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MISSOURI

Former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens, a first-time candidate, is locked in a close contest against Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.

Greitens has capitalized on his military service and his work as founder of the veterans’ charity known as The Mission Continues. He casts himself as an outsider going up against a career politician. Koster, a former Republican state senator, has picked up key endorsements from the National Rifle Association and major agricultural groups.

Including primary candidates, Missouri governors’ campaigns have raised more than $72 million, easily doubling the previous record. The winner will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

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INDIANA

When Pence dropped his re-election bid in July, Republicans tapped Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb as their new nominee to run against Democrat John Gregg, a former state House speaker.

Gregg has cast Holcomb as a “rubber stamp” for Pence, pointing out Holcomb’s support for a religious-objections law that Pence signed. Opponents said the law, which was later revised, sanctioned discrimination against same-sex couples by allowing businesses to refuse to serve them.

Holcomb has highlighted his time as an aide to Pence’s popular predecessor, Gov. Mitch Daniels, and seeks to continue a 12-year-run of Republican governors.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

The governor’s office is open because Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan is trying to oust Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

The race to replace her features two members of the governor’s Executive Council — Democrat Colin Van Ostern and Republican Chris Sununu, the son of former Gov. John H. Sununu and the brother of former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu.

Democrats have controlled the governor’s office for 18 of the past 20 years, but this year’s race has been a closely contested undercard in this presidential battleground.

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VERMONT

Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott faces Democrat Sue Minter in what Republicans view as their best pick-up opportunity. Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin is not seeking another two-year term.

Scott is currently the only Republican statewide officeholder in a liberal-leaning state but has tacked to the left by embracing abortion rights and gay marriage. Minter is a former transportation secretary for Shumlin.

Under Vermont law, if neither candidate gets a majority of votes, the winner is decided by the state Legislature.

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WEST VIRGINIA

With Trump expected to easily win in West Virginia, the question is how long his coattails will reach.

Republican candidate Bill Cole, the state Senate president, has linked himself closely to Trump and his pledge to revive the coal industry. But that seeming advantage is somewhat offset by Democratic nominee Jim Justice, himself a coal billionaire.

Justice, like Trump, has cast himself as a political outsider adept at creating jobs. Republicans have made an issue of Justice’s unpaid business taxes.

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MONTANA

Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock faces a challenge from Republican Greg Gianforte, a businessman who struck it rich when he sold his cloud-based software firm to Oracle five years ago.

Gianforte has poured millions of his own money into the race, airing more TV ads than all other statewide executive candidates in the nation, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity of data from the tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG.

Bullock has been heavily aided by the Democratic Governors Association.

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OTHER STATES

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah and Democratic Govs. Kate Brown of Oregon and Jay Inslee of Washington were all expected to turn back challenges Tuesday. In Delaware, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Carney Jr. was favored to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jack Markell. And in North Dakota, Republican businessman Doug Burgum was favored to succeed Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who is not seeking re-election.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo after an interview with Reuters in his office in Trump Tower, in New York City in May 2016. Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president Tuesday, an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice who capitalized on voters’ economic anxieties, took advantage of racial tensions and overcame a string of sexual assault allegations on his way to the White House.

His triumph over Hillary Clinton will end eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House and threatens to undo major achievements of President Barack Obama. He’s pledged to act quickly to repeal Obama’s landmark health care law, revoke the nuclear agreement with Iran and rewrite important trade deals with other countries, particularly Mexico and Canada.

The Republican blasted through Democrats’ longstanding firewall, carrying Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that hadn’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since the 1980s. He needed to win nearly all of the competitive battleground states, and he did just that, claiming Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and others.

Global stock markets and U.S. stock futures plunged deeply, reflecting investor alarm over what a Trump presidency might mean for the economy and trade.

A New York real estate developer who lives in a sparking Manhattan high-rise, Trump forged a striking connection with white, working class Americans who feel left behind in a changing economy and diversifying country. He cast immigration, both from Latin America and the Middle East, as the root of the problems plaguing many Americans and taped into fears of terrorism emanating at home and abroad.

Trump will take office with Congress expected to be fully under Republican control. GOP Senate candidates fended off Democratic challengers in key states and appeared poised to maintain the majority. Republicans also maintained their grip on the House.

Senate control means Trump will have great leeway in appointing Supreme Court justices, which could mean a major change to the right that would last for decades.

Trump upended years of political convention on his way to the White House, leveling harshly personal insults on his rivals, deeming Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, and vowing to temporarily suspend Muslim immigration to the U.S. He never released his tax returns, breaking with decades of campaign tradition, and eschewed the kind of robust data and field efforts that helped Obama win two terms in the White House, relying instead on his large, free-wheeling rallies to energize supporters. His campaign was frequently in chaos, and he cycled through three campaign managers this year.

His final campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, touted the team’s accomplishments as the final results rolled in, writing on Twitter that “rally crowds matter” and “we expanded the map.”

The mood at Clinton’s party grew bleak as the night wore out, with some supporters leaving, others crying and hugging each other. Top campaign aides stopped returning calls and texts, as Clinton and her family hunkered down in a luxury hotel watching the returns.

At 2 a.m., Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told the crowd to head home for the night. “We’re still counting votes and every vote should count,” he said.

Trump will inherit an anxious nation, deeply divided by economic and educational opportunities, race and culture.

Exit polls underscored the fractures: Women nationwide supported Clinton by a double-digit margin, while men were significantly more likely to back Trump. More than half of white voters backed the Republican, while nearly 9 in 10 blacks and two-thirds of Hispanics voted for the Democrat.

Doug Ratliff, a 67-year-old businessman from Richlands, Virginia, said Trump’s election would be one of the happiest days of his life.

“This county has had no hope,” said Ratliff, who owns strip malls in the area badly beaten by the collapse of the coal industry. “You have no idea what it would mean for the people if Trump won. They’ll have hope again. Things will change. I know he’s not going to be perfect. But he’s got a heart. And he gives people hope.”

Trump has pledged to usher in a series of sweeping changes to U.S. domestic and foreign policy: repealing Obama’s signature health care law, though he has been vague on what he could replace it with; building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border; and suspending immigration from country’s with terrorism ties. He’s also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoken of building a better relationship with Moscow, worrying some in his own party who fear he’ll go easy on Putin’s provocations.

The Republican Party’s tortured relationship with its nominee was evident right up to the end. Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura Bush declined to back Trump, instead selecting “none of the above” when they voted for president, according to spokesman Freddy Ford.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a reluctant Trump supporter, called the businessman earlier in the evening to congratulate him, according to a Ryan spokeswoman.

Democrats, as well as some Republicans, expected Trump’s unconventional candidacy would damage down-ballot races and even flip some reliably red states in the presidential race. But Trump held on to Republican territory, including in Georgia and Utah, where Clinton’s campaign confidently invested resources.

Clinton asked voters to keep the White House in her party’s hands for a third straight term. She cast herself as heir to President Barack Obama’s legacy and pledged to make good on his unfinished agenda, including passing immigration legislation, tightening restrictions on guns and tweaking his signature health care law.

But she struggled throughout the race with persistent questions about her honesty and trustworthiness. Those troubles flared anew late in the race, when FBI Director James Comey announced a review of new emails from her tenure at the State Department. On Sunday, just two days before Election Day, Comey said there was nothing in the material to warrant criminal charges against Clinton.

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Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey, Bradley Klapper, Vivian Salama, Hope Yen, Jill Colvin and Lisa Lerer and AP Polling Director Emily Swanson contributed to this report.

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Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst – RTSFS0X

NEW YORK — Donald Trump awakened a movement of angry working-class voters fed up with political insiders and desperate for change. On Tuesday, that movement propelled him to the White House.

Trump’s stunning, come-from-behind victory over Hillary Clinton served as a symbolic raised middle finger to the political establishment from his fervent backers.

But to millions of others, the billionaire businessman’s elevation to the presidency is a shocking, catastrophic blow that threatens the security and identity of a bitterly divided nation.

Many see the president-elect as a racist, a bigot and a misogynist unfit for the office.

“He scares the daylights out of me,” said Wendy Bennett, a Democrat and government worker from Reno, Nevada, who cast her ballot for Clinton. “I think his personality is going to start World War III. He reminds me of Hitler.”

Lisa Moore, a registered Republican from Glen Rock, New Jersey, crossed party lines to vote for Clinton, who would have been the nation’s first female president.

“As a woman, in good conscience, and as the mother of a daughter, I can’t vote for somebody who’s so morally reprehensible,” said Moore, an exercise instructor.

The 2016 election will go down as one of the most vicious in modern history, as Clinton tried to paint Trump as a reckless bully and Trump belittled his rival as a corrupt insider who belonged behind bars.

But the election also served as vindication for Trump, a former reality TV star whose appeal was underestimated from the start.

While pundits assumed his poll numbers would sink as soon as voters started taking the race seriously, Trump was drawing thousands each night to rallies packed full of angry, largely white supporters who felt ignored and lied to by Washington.

While statistics showed the U.S. economy improving overall, it didn’t feel that way in places like upstate New York, Pennsylvania’s coal country and former manufacturing towns across the Midwest devastated by outsourcing and globalization. Chaos abroad only added to the feeling that the country was sliding backward.

Together, those factors drove a yearning to return to a simpler time when America was the world’s undisputed superpower and middle-class wages were on the rise.

“We have our fingers in too many baskets,” said Joe Hudson, 49, an engineer and registered Republican from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who said he would be voting for Trump because “we’re not taking care of our own people.”

“We’re trying to be too involved in world politics. And our country is imploding from within,” he said. “We need a new direction, a new attitude, and people to stop arguing and letting the media affect how we feel.”

Trump’s vow was simple: He’d “Make America Great Again.” His outsider status, coupled with his personal business success, lent credibility to a populist message that emphasized recapturing manufacturing jobs, restoring American strength abroad and curtailing legal and illegal immigration.

Trump, early on, painted his supporters as a “movement” larger than himself.

“This isn’t about me; it’s about all of you and our magnificent movement to make America great again all over this country. And they’re talking about it all over the world,” he said at a rally in Miami last week during the race’s furious final stretch.

“There has never been a movement like this in the history of our country — it’s never happened. Even the pundits, even the ones that truly dislike Donald Trump, have said it’s the single greatest phenomena they have ever seen.”

But as he worked his base into a frenzy and locked down one primary win after the next, Trump was also repelling large swaths of the populace — including women, college-educated whites and minorities — with his deeply divisive rhetoric.

Trump launched his campaign with a speech that accused Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals across the border. He later questioned 2008 Republican nominee and former POW John McCain’s status as a war hero, saying he preferred people who hadn’t been captured. He mocked a disabled reporter. And he called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” — a blanket religion test denounced by many as un-American.

After securing his party’s nomination, Trump questioned a federal judge’s ability to treat him fairly because of the judge’s Hispanic origin, repeatedly insulted a Muslim-American family whose son had been killed in Iraq, and got into an extended spat with a former beauty queen, at one point instructing his millions of Twitter followers to “check out” her non-existent sex tape.

Again and again, Trump appeared poised to close the gap with Clinton, only to go off on a tangent that would send his poll numbers tumbling.

Then came the release of jarring old video footage from an “Access Hollywood” bus in which Trump bragged about being able to grope women because he was famous. The video’s release was followed by a string of allegations from women who said Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them.

Trump denied the accusations, at one point threatening to sue the women.

But one October surprise was followed by another: a letter from the FBI director informing Congress that the bureau had found a new trove of emails potentially relevant to its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server a secretary of state.

While the FBI eventually announced that there was nothing in the emails to merit criminal prosecution, the damage appeared to have been done.

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President-elect Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton called him to congratulate him on his victory.

Trump, addressing supporters at his victory party in New York City, said Wednesday that he “congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.”

He added that “we owe her a major debt of gratitude” for her service.

The gracious sentiment was a far cry from Trump’s usually heated rhetoric about Clinton. He has suggested that she should go to jail and chants of “Lock her up!” were a staple at his campaign rallies.

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Video by PBS NewsHour

NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to unify a deeply divided nation, having scored a stunning victory backed by extraordinary support from working-class America.

The tough-talking New York billionaire claimed victories in the nation’s premier battleground states, but his appeal across the industrial Midwest — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in particular — sealed a victory that defied pre-election polls and every expectation of the political establishment.

“I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump told supporters gathered in a Manhattan hotel near his Trump Tower campaign headquarters.

“For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so we can work together and unify our great country,” he said, the stage crowded with family and his most loyal allies.

Trump addressed the nation after sweeping most of the nation’s top battlegrounds — and created some new ones.

He won Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. He also took down the Democratic Party’s “blue firewall” by scoring victories in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that haven’t supported a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 and 1984 respectively.

Trump’s win shocked political professionals and global financial markets alike. But it created pure joy inside the hotel ballroom where hundreds of Trump supporters waited for hours for his celebration speech. They hugged each other, chanted “USA!” and bellowed “God bless America” at the top of their lungs.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to address supporters at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York. Photo by Jonathan Ernst /Reuters

House Speaker Paul Ryan called Trump Tuesday night to congratulate him on his “incredible victory.”

“We are eager to work hand-in-hand with the new administration to advance an agenda to improve the lives of the American people,” Ryan, who had a rocky relationship with Trump at times, said in a statement. “This has been a great night for our party, and now we must turn our focus to bringing the country together.”

While Democrat Hillary Clinton was trying to make history as the first female president, Trump made a different kind of history as one of the least experienced presidential candidates ever elected.

A businessman and former reality TV star, he is a true political outsider in a way that marks a sharp break from past presidents.

Some were branded resume lightweights: ex-governors George W. Bush of Texas, Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Ronald Reagan of California, among them. But they had served somewhere — whether in Congress, states or in a leadership post in an administration.

Trump’s outsider status ultimately helped him politically far more than it hurt.

His political inexperience allowed him to cast himself as a change agent just as frustrated voters in both parties were hungry for change. The message was particularly effective against Clinton, a fixture in public service over the last three decades.

Ever the showman, his strategy relied almost exclusively on massive rallies to connect with voters, ignoring the grunt work that typically fuels successful campaigns.

Pre-election polls suggested he was the least popular presidential nominee in the modern era.

Yet there were signs that Republicans who previously vowed never to support Trump were willing to give him a chance moving forward.

“If Trump wins, he does deserve the benefit of the doubt because he was right on his chances and so many of us were wrong,” tweeted conservative leader Erick Erickson.

Peoples reported from Washington. AP writer Julie Bykowicz in Washington contributed to this report.

READ MORE: What does Donald Trump believe? Where the candidate stands on 10 issues

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LONDON — The world faces a starkly different America led by a President Donald Trump.

While the billionaire businessman’s election was welcomed in some countries, others saw it as a big shock, as governments will now have to deal with a man who has cozied up to Vladimir Putin, told NATO allies they would have to pay for their own protection and vowed to make the Mexican government pay for a multibillion-dollar border wall.

Trump’s win was particularly startling in Mexico, where his remarks calling Mexican immigrants criminals and “rapists” were a deep insult to national pride. Financial analysts have predicted a Trump win would threaten billions of dollars in cross-border trade, and government officials say they have drawn up a contingency plan for such a scenario, though without releasing details.

“It’s DEFCON 2,” Mexican analyst Alejandro Hope said. “Probably something as close to a national emergency as Mexico has faced in many decades.”

“It depends if he means what he says and if he can do what he claims he wants to do,” Hope added. “A massive deportation campaign could really put some stress on Mexican border communities. A renegotiation of NAFTA could seriously hobble the Mexican economy. It could create a lot of uncertainty. … Financial markets could suffer.”

The Mexican peso, which has tracked the U.S. election closely, fell sharply to 20.45 to the dollar late Tuesday before recovering somewhat. The Bank of Mexico’s interbank rate had stood at 18.42 at the end of the day’s trading.

Mexican peso slides nearly 12 per cent – the worst drop in over two decades – to a new record low v dollar. https://t.co/mpuWjU6fHI pic.twitter.com/XHoBk2OzhR

— Robin Wigglesworth (@RobinWigg) November 9, 2016

In Europe, NATO allies now wait to see if Trump follows through on suggestions that America will look at whether they have paid their proper share in considering whether to come to their defense.

Trump’s rhetoric has challenged the strategic underpinning of the NATO alliance, rattling its leaders at a time when Russia has been increasingly aggressive.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen called the vote “a big shock” and “a vote against Washington, against the establishment.”

Von der Leyen said on German public Television Wednesday that while many questions remain open, “We Europeans obviously know that as partners in NATO, Donald Trump will naturally ask what ‘are you achieving for the alliance,’ but we will also ask ‘what’s your stand toward the alliance.'”

The French populist, anti-immigrant politician Marine Le Pen congratulated Trump even before the final results were known, tweeting her support to the “American people, free!”

Félicitations au nouveau président des Etats-Unis Donald Trump et au peuple américain, libre ! MLP

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) November 9, 2016

Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said France would work with the new president and that European politicians should heed the message from Trump votes. “There is a part of our electorate that feels … abandoned,” including people who feel “left behind by globalization,” he said.

Trump’s victory is being viewed with shock and revulsion in Ireland, a country close to the Clintons and fearful of Trump’s campaign pledge to confront U.S. companies using Ireland as a tax shelter.

The newspaper of record, the Irish Times, branded the New York businessman a “misogynistic racist liar” who would fan instability overseas and intolerance at home.

Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole wrote Wednesday: “The republic of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt is now the United Hates of America.”

“President Trump is the creation of the same demographic that gave Europe its far-right authoritarian movements with such disastrous consequences for the world,” he wrote. “This does not mean that we are facing an American fascism. But it does mean that Trump will not be able to rule without stoking and manipulating fear.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement saying she looks forward to working with Trump and building on the two countries’ longstanding “special relationship.” Her predecessor, David Cameron, had been outspoken in his criticism of Trump during the primary campaign.

Nigel Farage, acting leader of the UK Independent Party, which played an important role convincing Britons to leave the European Union, told The Daily Telegraph that Trump’s victory would bring a “massive result” for Britain. A spokesman said Farage — who campaigned briefly with Trump — was flying to Washington Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Trump a telegram Wednesday morning congratulating him on his victory.

Moscow has been unusually prominent in the race. Clinton’s campaign and the Obama administration blamed Russian hackers for leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign staff. Trump, in turn, has made complimentary remarks about Putin; the ties some of his advisers and former campaign officials have to Russia have raised suspicions.

“We of course regard with satisfaction that the better candidate of the two presented to the American voters was victorious,” said Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Russia’s nationalist Liberal Democratic party, according to the Interfax news agency.

In Asia, security issues and trade will top the agenda for the new administration, from North Korea and the South China Sea to the contentious and yet-unratified Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Chinese state media and government-backed commentators had signaled Beijing’s preference for a Trump win. Like Russia, China is seen as favoring Trump because he appears less willing to confront China’s newly robust foreign policy, particularly in the South China Sea.

Clinton, by contrast, is disliked in Beijing for having steered the U.S. “pivot” to Asia aimed at strengthening U.S. engagement with the region, particularly in the military sphere.

Scholar Mei Xinyu wrote in the Communist Party newspaper Global Times that China would find it easier to cope with a Trump presidency.

“Trump has always insisted on abandoning ideological division and minimizing the risks that unnecessary conflicts with other countries may bring to the U.S.,” Mei wrote.

In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, social media was abuzz with speculation about whether Trump would follow through on campaign rhetoric calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Some said they fear they would be prevented from visiting relatives and friends who live in America or traveling there as tourists.

News of Trump’s widening lead hit hard in Cuba, which has spent the last two years negotiating normalization with the United States after more than 50 years of Cold War hostility, setting off a tourism boom. Trump has promised to roll back Obama’s opening with Cuba unless President Raul Castro agrees to more political freedoms.

“If he reverses it, it hurts us,” taxi driver Oriel Iglesias Garcia said. “You know tourism will go down.”

In pubs, bars and restaurants in much of the world, people watched TV and took in the surprise news of Trump’s victory.

At a pub in Sydney, Pamela Clark-Pearman, a 63-year-old Clinton supporter, sat nursing a beer.

“I never thought the Americans could be so stupid. I just think it’s Brexit all over again,” Clark-Pearman said, referring to the June 23 British vote to leave the European Union.

Serving the last drinks of the night at a Mexico City tavern where a half-dozen TVs were tuned to election news, bartender Angel Mendoza wondered what will happen to his 15 or so family members living in the United States, about half of whom are there illegally.

“They’re not coming here,” he said. “Their lives are already made there, but (now) with a certain fear.”

Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Mexico City; Michael Weissenstein and Andrea Rodriguez in Havana; Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin; Angela Charlton in Paris; Jim Heintz in Moscow; Christopher Bodeen and Gillian Wong in Beijing; Kristen Gelineau in Sydney; Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

READ MORE: Donald Trump rides his movement to vindication and the White House

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U.S. president-elect Donald Trump greets supporters at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York. Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters

A populist wave that began with Brexit in June reached the United States in stunning fashion on Tuesday night. In one of the biggest upsets in American political history, Donald Trump won a truly historic victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump’s remarkably decisive win stunned most political pundits, myself included. Throughout the campaign, Trump seemed to have a polling ceiling of about 44 percent and he consistently had the highest unfavorability rating of any major party nominee in history. Accordingly, months ago I predicted that Clinton would easily beat Trump.

Then, at the beginning of October, the uproar over Trump’s lewd and offensive remarks on the “Access Hollywood” videotape, combined with the escalating number of women who accused Trump of sexual assault, seemed to finish off his campaign. Right up until Tuesday afternoon, therefore, a comfortable victory for Clinton seemed like a foregone conclusion.

But I was dead wrong. Trump won a sweeping victory in the presidential race. His night began with critical victories in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, three states essential to his path to 270 electoral votes. As the night wore on, Clinton’s “blue wall” collapsed amid a red tide that swept across the country from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. The blue states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa fell to Trump like dominoes. The election returns made clear that Trump would carry over 300 electoral votes, more than enough to win the presidency.

It’s extremely early to draw conclusions about the 2016 election results, but here are five factors that at least partially explain what happened.

1. Silent Trump vote

There really was a silent Trump vote that the polls failed to pick up on. The nationwide polling average gave Clinton about a 3-point lead overall, and the state-by-state polls indicated that she would win at least 300 electoral votes.

But the polls were as wrong as the pundits. Problems with the polls’ methodologies will undoubtedly be identified in the days and weeks ahead.

It seems equally reasonable to conclude that many Trump voters kept their intentions to themselves and refused to cooperate with the pollsters.

The extraordinary role of FBI Director James Comey in the presidential campaign cannot be underestimated either. Two weeks ago Clinton seemed on the verge of winning a double-digit victory. But Comey’s Oct. 28 letter to Congress, which announced that the FBI was reopening its investigation into Clinton’s State Department emails, changed the momentum of the race. Clinton retook the polling lead at the end of last week, but the final polls masked the lasting damage that the Comey letter had done to her campaign.

Whatever the ultimate explanation for the polls’ failure to predict the election’s outcome, the future of the polling industry is in question after Tuesday. Trump’s astounding victory demonstrated that the polls simply cannot be trusted.

2. Celebrity beat organization

A longstanding assumption of political campaigns is that a first-rate “Get out the Vote” organization is indispensable. The conventional wisdom in 2016 thus held that Trump’s lack of a grassroots organization was a huge liability for his campaign.

But as it turned out, he didn’t need an organization. Trump has been in the public eye for over 30 years, which meant that he entered the race with nearly 100 percent name recognition. Trump’s longstanding status as a celebrity enabled him to garner relentless media attention from the moment he entered the race. One study found that by May 2016 Trump had received the equivalent of US$3 billion in free advertising from the media coverage his campaign commanded. Trump seemed to intuitively understand that the controversial things he said on the campaign trail captured the voters’ attention in a way that serious policy speeches never could.

Most important of all, he had highly motivated voters. Trump’s populist rhetoric and open contempt for civility and basic standards of decency enabled him to connect with the Republican base like no candidate since Ronald Reagan. Trump didn’t play by the normal rules of politics, and his voters loved him for it.

Trump’s victory would seem to herald a new era of celebrity politicians. He showed that a charismatic media-savvy outsider has significant advantages over traditional politicians and conventional political organizations in the internet age. In the future, we may see many more unconventional politicians in the Trump mold.

3. Populist revolt against immigration and trade

It will take days to sort through the data to figure out what issues resonated mostly deeply with Trump’s base.

But immigration and trade seem virtually certain to be at the top of the list. Trump bet his whole campaign on the idea that popular hostility to liberal immigration and free trade policies would propel him to the White House.

From the beginning to the end of his campaign, he returned time and again to those two cornerstone issues. In his announcement speech, he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border and deport 11 million unauthorized immigrants. He also pledged to tear up free trade agreements and bring back manufacturing jobs. From day one, he made xenophobic and nationalistic policies the centerpiece of his campaign.

Critics rightfully condemned his vicious attacks on Mexicans and Muslims, but Trump clearly understood that hostility toward immigration and globalization ran deep among a critical mass of American voters.

His decision to focus on immigration and trade paid off in spades on Election Day. It’s no coincidence that Trump did exceptionally well in the traditionally blue states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all of which have large populations of white working-class voters. Previous Republican nominees such as John McCain, who embraced generous immigration policies, and Mitt Romney, who advocated free trade, never managed to connect with blue-collar voters in the Great Lakes region.

But Trump’s anti-immigration and protectionist trade policies gave him a unique opening with white working-class voters, and he made the most of it.

4. Outsiders against insiders

Trump will be the first president without elective office experience since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. Eisenhower, however, served as supreme allied commander in Europe during World War II and had unrivaled expertise in foreign affairs.

So how did Trump make his lack of government experience an asset in the campaign?

The answer lay in the intense and widespread public hostility to the political, media and business establishments that lead the country. Trust in institutions is at an all-time low and a majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. The angry and volatile public mood made 2016 the ultimate change election.

Amid such a potent anti-establishment spirit, Trump’s vulgar, intemperate and unorthodox style struck voters as far more genuine than the highly cautious and controlled Hillary Clinton. As the brash and unpredictable Trump positioned himself as an agent of change, Clinton seemed like the establishment’s candidate, an impression that proved fatal to her campaign. Indeed, Trump used Clinton’s deep experience in the White House, Senate and State Department against her by citing it as evidence that she represented the status quo.

Ironically, Bill Clinton won the White House 24 years ago using a similar anti-establishment strategy. In the 1992 election, he successfully depicted incumbent President George H. W. Bush as an out-of-touch elitist. Eight years later Bush’s son, George W. Bush, employed the same tactic to defeat Vice President Al Gore. And in 2008 Barack Obama successfully ran as an outsider against John McCain.

Trump is thus the fourth consecutive president to win the White House by running as an “outsider” candidate. That is a lesson that future presidential candidates forget at their peril.

5. America, the divided

Above all, the 2016 election made clear that America is a nation deeply divided along racial, cultural, gender and class lines.

Under normal circumstances, one would expect the new president to attempt to rally the nation behind a message of unity.

But Trump will not be a normal president. He won the White House by waging one of the most divisive and polarizing campaigns in American political history. It is entirely possible that he may choose to govern using the same strategy of divide and conquer.

In any case, Trump will soon be the most powerful person in the world. He will enter office on Jan. 20 with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, which means Republicans will dictate the nation’s policy agenda and control Supreme Court appointments for the next four years. It seems highly likely therefore that Nov. 8, 2016, will go down in the history books as a major turning point in American history.

The 2016 election defied the conventional wisdom from start to finish. It is probably a safe bet that the Trump presidency will be just as unpredictable.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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People cheer as voting results come in at Donald Trump’’s election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

While Donald Trump’s victory is being portrayed as a shocking upset by countless media outlets, it comes as little surprise to his core supporters.

“We’re not really surprised over here,” said Amanda Mancini, a mother of three who lives in Orange County, Calif. “In California, every single person I know is voting for Trump. I don’t even know somebody who knows somebody who’s voting for Hillary.”

Donald Trump was projected to become the 45th president of the United States early Wednesday morning after winning a handful of contested states, marking the first time since Dwight Eisenhower that a candidate won the White House after never having served in an elected office.

Mancini, a staunch Republican, claims her family is “strangled by the fines and fees” imposed by government. Those fees compromise her husband’s business in the industrial manufacturing industry, she said, adding that she can no longer afford insurance under Obamacare.

As for the tapes that surfaced in October of Trump boasting about sexual assault, they failed to sway her vote, she said.

“Him saying a few bad words 15 years ago… we just can’t find anyone that cares, Mancini said. “The media is trying shape that narrative instead of recording the true narrative.”

Two thousand miles east, in Newton Falls, Ohio, Daniel Moore said his family spent the evening at the local GOP headquarters, holding hands, praying and celebrating.

Moore, who voted for President Obama in 2012, said he backed Trump for his positions on trade, immigration and the 2nd amendment and compared the president-elect to the former president of Poland, Lech Walesa.

“A common ordinary dock worker was able to do that for Poland,” he said. “This is incredible. This is a solidarity movement.”

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton supporters mourned the loss of their candidate.

Gretchen Klungness, a local Democratic official from Hawaii, said she was “shocked” by the result.

“This one’s breaking my heart,” said Klungness, the secretary of the Hawaii County Democratic Party. “I shudder to think what’s going to happen to the Supreme Court. I am so horrified I can hardly believe it.”

Klungness said the only solace was knowing that Trump would be up for reelection in four years.

“We survived Reagan and we survived George W. Bush, so maybe we’ll survive this.”

Others said they were still processing the outcome.

“My main reaction is, I’m disappointed in the American people,” said Tyler Garza, 26, a Chicago native who works in the sports industry. “We elected someone who only represents part of America.”

Garza added that he was not prepared to face the prospect of a president Trump.

“I’m scared and nervous. I don’t want to go to sleep,” he said. “I wish I could wake up and this would all be a nightmare.”

Democratic strategists and political analysts also expressed their shock at the win via Twitter.

“I’ve believed in data for 30 years in politics and data died tonight,” Tweeted GOP strategist Mike Murphy. “I could not have been more wrong about this election.”

There should be an embedded item here. Please visit the original post to view it.

In a victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump said it was “time for America to bind the wounds of division.”

“To all Republicans, Democrats and Independents across the nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump told a crowd of supporters who had gathered at a hotel in Manhattan to watch the results of the race.

“I pledge to every citizen of our land, that I will be president of all Americans,” Trump added.

Trump also acknowledged Clinton in his speech.

“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” he said.

Trump said that Clinton had called him to concede shortly before he took the stage, though he didn’t reveal further details of their conversation.​

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Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a sign supporting his plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico that he borrowed from a member of the audience at his campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Photo by Jonathan Drake/Reuters

WASHINGTON — It all starts with the wall.

Donald Trump’s vow to build a wall along the border with Mexico, to make Mexico pay for it and to achieve iron-fisted control over illegal immigration stands as his leading promise, one that rang from the rafters countless times. But he owes his supporters — and now the country — much more than that.

While a lot of his agenda will be a hard sell, he won’t have the excuse used by many presidents whose promises have fallen short — a Congress in the hands of the opposing party. Trump will take office with a unified government, both the Senate and House under Republican control.

A look at some of his IOUs:

CHILD CARE

Trump promises six weeks of leave for new mothers, with the government paying wages equivalent to unemployment benefits. His plan also provides for a new income tax deduction for child care expenses, other tax benefits and a new rebate or tax credit for low-income families.

EDUCATION

Trump promises to spend $20 billion during his first year to help states expand school choice programs. He wants states to divert an additional $110 billion of their own education money to help parents who want their children to go to other schools.

And he owes college students a big, and expensive, leg up. He says he will cap student loan payments at 12.5 percent of a borrower’s income, with loan forgiveness if they make payments for 15 years.

ENERGY

Trump vows to cut regulations as part of his effort to “unleash American energy.” This means allowing unfettered production of oil, clean coal, natural gas and other sources to push the U.S. toward energy independence and create jobs. In particular, he owes coal miners a revival of their livelihood, even though the industry’s decline is in large measure due to the rise of natural gas, which he also supports. He pledges to rescind the Clean Power Plan, a key element of President Barack Obama’s strategy to fight climate change.

FOREIGN POLICY

Trump’s “America first” ethos means alliances and coalitions will not pass muster with him unless they produce a net benefit to the U.S. He speaks of a less interventionist approach to crises abroad — with the exception of his vow to crush the Islamic State group. Yet he also promises to spend much more to restore what he sees as depleted armed forces.

HEALTH CARE

He’s vowed to repeal Obama’s health care law and replace it with something more affordable. With a Republican Congress, the pressure will be on to do so. It remains to be seen how far lawmakers and the president will actually go to untangle a law that has sunk some roots, and Democrats won’t be voiceless on this or other issues.

IMMIGRATION

One paradox of the campaign is the lack of clarity about Trump’s intentions on an issue that defined him out of the gate. He clearly promises to stop the influx of Syrian refugees into the U.S., and somehow to help them overseas. He vows to deport people convicted of serious crimes who are in the U.S. illegally. And there’s that wall, which Mexicans insist they won’t pay for. But the fate of millions of people who are in the country illegally is a gray area — he’s not promising to deport them but also not saying he would give them legal status. He’d ban immigration of people from areas prone to extremism, but how that would be defined is unclear.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Trump vowed to double rival Hillary Clinton’s proposed spending on infrastructure. Taking him literally, that means a staggering $500 billion over five years.

IRAN

Trump promises to renegotiate or withdraw from the multilateral deal that eased sanctions on Iran in return for controls on its nuclear program.

MINIMUM WAGE

He expressed support for $10 an hour, while saying states should “really call the shots.” It’s $7.25 now.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Trump has promised not to cut Social Security.

SUPREME COURT

Trump promised to nominate justices who are open to overturning the constitutional right to abortion and who support Second Amendment gun rights.

TAXES

He owes Americans big tax cuts. He says he’ll collapse the current seven income tax brackets, which peak at 39.6 percent, into just three tiers with a top rate of 33 percent, slice the corporate income tax and eliminate the estate tax. Although analysts said the wealthy would benefit disproportionately, middle income people are promised a hefty reduction.

TRADE

Trump promises to renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also vows to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and to slap stinging tariffs on countries that the U.S. judges to be trading unfairly. China faces the risk of steep penalties — and U.S. consumers would pay higher prices as a result — if his vow is carried through.

VETERANS

Trump promises to expand programs that allow veterans to choose their doctor — regardless of whether they’re affiliated with the VA — and still receive government-paid medical care. He’s pledged to fire or discipline VA employees who fail veterans or breach the public trust. He also would increase mental health professionals and create a “White House hotline” dedicated to veterans. If a valid complaint is not addressed, “I will pick up the phone and fix it myself if I have to,” Trump pledged.

READ MORE: 5 things that explain Trump’s stunning victory

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Moments after Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton for the White House, protests erupted in California and other states, including people crying “Not my president!”

The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets reported anti-Trump protesters amassing around the campuses of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego, among others.

In Oakland, the overnight protests led to a partial closure of the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, the Times reported.

Photos and videos on social media captured the protesters marching and yelling “Who’s got the power? We got the power,” “Not my president!” and other anti-Trump chants filled with expletives.

UCSB student newspaper the Daily Nexus reported that hundreds of students left their dorms to protest. In the video captured by the paper below, one student is seen carrying a Mexican flag.

Hundreds of students march from freshman dorms to I.V. chanting "Fuck Donald Trump" and "Not my president." pic.twitter.com/8wx7dU01GA

— Daily Nexus (@dailynexus) November 9, 2016

Likewise, hundreds of students at UC San Diego and UCLA demonstrated on campus early Wednesday morning. There also were reports of protests at UC Santa Cruz and UC Irvine. Officials said there were as many as 3,000 students that marched through the UCLA campus, ABC reported.

Sorry that these are getting repetitive. This is a huge, growing group of students. #UCLA pic.twitter.com/dxfOp8QerY

— Tanner Walters (@tannerbwalters) November 9, 2016

Elsewhere in the country, protests were reported in Portland, Oregon and Washington, D.C.

In Oakland, authorities said dozens of protesters gathered downtown, while hundreds blocked a local highway.

Protesters move onto Highway 24 pic.twitter.com/spGW0Sjcxc

— Anderson Lanham (@AndersonLanham) November 9, 2016

#HesNotMyPresident: Some people have taken to Twitter to explain why they won't stop protesting against Trump. pic.twitter.com/GlnzTu9NVt

— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 9, 2016

The San Francisco Chronicle also reported that a 20-year-old protester was severely injured after being hit by a car on Highway 20. Protesters had blocked the highway and lit several fires, officer John O’Reilly told BuzzFeed News.

Hello I found a literal dumpster fire in downtown Oakland pic.twitter.com/7caP1HinZJ

— Ellen Cushing (@elcush) November 9, 2016

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File photo of President Barack Obama by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

President Barack Obama invited President-elect Donald Trump to meet with him at the White House on Thursday.

The president also plans to address Trump’s victory in a statement from the White House on Wednesday.

The White House said Obama called Trump from his residence in the White House early Wednesday to congratulate him. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Thursday meeting is to discuss the presidential transition.

Obama also called Hillary Clinton, conveying admiration for the “strong campaign she waged throughout the country.”

Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said the president-elect had a “gracious exchange” with Hillary Clinton and a “warm conversation” with Obama.

In a pair of interviews on ABC and NBC News Wednesday, Conway said Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, called her late Wednesday and connected Clinton with Trump. She said Clinton “congratulated him for his victory,” and he told Clinton that she is “very smart, very tough” and had “waged a tremendous campaign.”

Conway said the Trump campaign isn’t upset that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton hasn’t yet made a public concession speech.

Trump said during the campaign that he would assign a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. But Conway told ABC’s Good Morning America, “we have not discussed that at all.”

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Watch Hillary Clinton address her supporters on Wednesday.

NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton told supporters Wednesday that they owed Donald Trump “an open mind and a chance to lead,” urging acceptance of the celebrity businessman’s stunning win after a campaign that appeared poised until Election Day to make her the first woman elected U.S. president.

Addressing stricken staff and voters at a New York City hotel, Clinton said she had offered to work with Trump on behalf of a country that she acknowledged was “more deeply divided than we thought.”

Her voice vibrated with emotion at times, especially as she acknowledged that she had not “shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling.”

Flanked by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky, Clinton then made a direct plea to “all the little girls” watching: “Never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every opportunity in the world and chance to pursue your dreams.”

The speech followed a dramatic election night in which Trump captured battleground states like Florida, North Carolina and Ohio and demolished a longstanding “blue wall” of states in the Upper Midwest that had backed every Democratic presidential candidate since Clinton’s husband won the presidency in 1992.

Democrats — starting with Clinton’s campaign staff and the White House — were left wondering how they had misread their country so completely. Mournful Clinton backers gathered outside the hotel Wednesday.

“I was devastated. Shocked. Still am,” said Shirley Ritenour, 64, a musician from Brooklyn. “When I came in on the subway this morning there were a lot of people crying. A lot of people are very upset.”

The results were startling to Clinton and her aides, who had ended their campaign with a whirlwind tour of battleground states and had projected optimism that she would maintain the diverse coalition assembled by President Barack Obama in the past two elections.

On the final day of the campaign, Clinton literally followed Obama to stand behind a podium with a presidential seal at a massive rally outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. As she walked up to the lectern, the president bent down to pull out a small stool so the shorter Clinton could address the tens of thousands gathered on the mall. Before leaving the stage, Obama leaned over to whisper a message in Clinton’s ear: “We’ll have to make this permanent.”

Clinton’s stunning loss was certain to open painful soul-searching within the party, which had endured a lengthy primary between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who drew strong support among liberals amid an electorate calling for change.

“The mistake that we made is that we ignored the powerful part of Trump’s message because we hated so much of the rest of his message. The mistake we made is that people would ignore that part and just focus on the negative,” said Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, who was not affiliated with the campaign.

The tumultuous presidential cycle bequeathed a series of political gifts for Clinton’s GOP rival: An FBI investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server, questions of pay-for-play involving her family’s charitable foundation, Sanders’ primary challenge, Clinton’s health scare at a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony and FBI Director James Comey’s late October announcement that investigators had uncovered emails potentially relevant to her email case.

Yet her team spent the bulk of their time focused on attacking Trump, while failing to adequately address Clinton’s deep liabilities — or the wave of frustration roiling the nation.

Every time the race focused on Clinton, her numbers dropped, eventually making her one of the least liked presidential nominees in history. And she offered an anxious electorate a message of breaking barriers and the strength of diversity — hardly a rallying cry — leaving her advisers debating the central point of her candidacy late into the primary race.

Clinton’s campaign was infuriated by a late October announcement by Comey that investigators had uncovered emails that may have been pertinent to the dormant investigation into Clinton’s use of private emails while secretary of state. On the Sunday before the election, Comey told lawmakers that the bureau had found no evidence in its hurried review of the newly discovered emails to warrant criminal charges against Clinton.

But the announcement may have damaged Clinton while her campaign tried to generate support in early voting in battleground states like Florida and North Carolina. In the nine days between Comey’s initial statement and his “all clear” announcement, nearly 24 million people cast early ballots. That was about 18 percent of the expected total votes for president.

___

Thomas reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Catherine Lucey, Jacob Pearson, Rachelle Blidner, Michael Balsamo and Deepti Hajela contributed to this report.

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Amid the shock, praise and protests, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted about his victory Wednesday morning:

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President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama phoned Donald Trump to congratulate him early Wednesday morning and invited him to the White House on Thursday.

President Obama addressed the notion of a smooth transition in remarks he made at the White House on Wednesday. “It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. But remember eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. But President Bush’s team could not have been more professional or more gracious in making sure we had a smooth transition so that we could hit the ground running. … I have instructed my team to follow that example.”

You can watch his entire speech below: (Also, watch President George W. Bush’s remarks in 2008 when President Obama was elected.)

With much still up in the air about how Trump will approach issues brewing abroad, here’s how other world leaders responded:

Russian President Vladimir Putin

File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin by Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via Reuters

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, for whom Trump has expressed admiration in the past, said at the Kremlin that Russia is ready to work on improving relations:

“We understand that it will not be an easy path given the current state of degradation in the relations. … As I have repeatedly said, it’s not our fault that Russian-American relations are in such a poor state. But Russia wants and is ready to restore fully fledged relations with the United States.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Photo of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by Francois Lenoir/Reuters

“I congratulate Donald Trump on his election as the next president of the United States. And I look forward to working with President-elect Trump.

“We face a challenging new security environment, including hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, the threat of terrorism. U.S. leadership is as important as ever. Our alliance has brought together America’s closest friends in times of peace and of conflict for almost 70 years. A strong NATO is good for the United States, and good for Europe.

“NATO has responded with determination to the new security situation. But we have more work to do. And I look forward to meeting Mr. Trump soon, and welcoming him to Brussels for the NATO Summit next year to discuss the way forward,” Stoltenberg said.

During his campaign, Trump remarked that, under him, the U.S. would consider other countries’ level of military commitment before coming to their aid, unnerving some NATO members.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani

Trump has called the U.S. deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program a “disaster.” Nonetheless, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the U.S. election results would have no impact on Iran’s policies:

“Iran’s policy for constructive engagement with the world and the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions have made our economic relations with all countries expanding and irreversible,” Rouhani said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrive for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany on Nov. 9. Photo by Axel Schmidt/Reuters

“Whoever the American people elect as their president in free and fair elections, that has a significance far beyond the USA,” Merkel said in Berlin on Wednesday, reported Deutsche Welle.

“Germany and America are bound by their values: democracy, freedom, the respect for the law and the dignity of human beings, independent of their origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political position.

“On the basis of these values I offer the future president of the United States, Donald Trump, close cooperation.”

UK Prime Minister Theresa May

Photo of Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May by Adnan Abidi/Reuters

“I would like to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the next President of the United States, following a hard-fought campaign,” said UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

“Britain and the United States have an enduring and special relationship based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.

“We are, and will remain, strong and close partners on trade, security and defense.

“I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump, building on these ties to ensure the security and prosperity of our nations in the years ahead.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom President Obama has had frosty relations of late, offered his warm congratulations to Trump:

“President-elect Trump is a true friend of the State of Israel. We will work together to advance the security, stability and peace in our region. The strong connection between the United States and Israel is based on shared values, shared interests and a shared destiny.

“I’m certain that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between Israel and the United States, and bring it to new heights,” Netanyahu said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

“I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” China’s President Xi Jinping said in a message to Trump.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto

File photo of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto by Henry Romero/Reuters

“Mexico and the United States are friends, partners and allies and we should keep collaborating for the competitiveness and development of North America,” Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto said via Twitter.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“We’re going to keep working with people right around the world. We’re going to work with our neighbors, and I’m going to work with president-elect Trump’s administration, as we move forward in a positive way for, not just Canadians and Americans, but the whole world.

“The relationship between our two countries serves as a model for the world. Our shared values, deep cultural ties and strong integrated economies will continue to provide the basis for advancing our strong and prosperous partnership,” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday in Ottawa.

French President Francois Hollande

“I congratulate him as is natural between two democratic heads of state,” Hollande said of Trump. “This American election opens a period of uncertainty.”

The Vatican

And to end with a tweet from Pope Francis:

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Photo of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., by Carlos Barria/Reuters

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Donald Trump’s victory has turned politics on its head. He said he expects the new president to work hand-in-hand with the Republican-led Congress.

Speaking Wednesday in Janesville, Wisconsin, an ebullient Ryan said Trump has earned a mandate to enact his agenda.

He thanked Trump for his “coattails” during the election that bolstered the Republican majority in the House.

Ryan has said he wants to be speaker in the new Congress and has expressed confidence in doing so. But he could face resistance from the Freedom Caucus, which chased former Speaker John Boehner from Congress last year. Other Republicans are upset over Ryan’s frigid treatment of Trump.

Ryan said his relationship with Trump is fine. He’s urging Republicans and Democrats to focus on “redemption, not recrimination.”

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Democratic operatives struggle to explain why their optimistic assessments of retaking Senate control were so mistaken. Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters

WASHINGTON — Republicans held onto their slim Senate majority, a stinging blow to Democrats in a night full of them. Democrats had been nearly certain of retaking control but saw their hopes fizzle as endangered GOP incumbents won in Missouri, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and even Democrat-friendly Wisconsin.

Republicans also held onto a GOP seat in Indiana. GOP-held New Hampshire remained too close to call on Wednesday morning, but even if Democrats eked out a win there it would not make a difference.

New Hampshire Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan declared victory in the Senate race Wednesday morning, but incumbent GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte refused to concede defeat. Hassan was fewer than 700 votes ahead in unofficial results.

Republicans started the night with a 54-46 majority in the Senate and were on track to end up with at least 52 seats, presuming they win a December runoff in Louisiana, as expected.

The outcome added to a debacle of a night for Democrats, who lost the presidency and faced being consigned to minority status on Capitol Hill for years to come.

Republicans celebrated their wins, already looking ahead to midterms in 2018 when Democrats could see their numbers reduced even further with a group of red-state Senate Democrats on the ballot.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky issued a statement congratulating the president-elect.

“After eight years of the Obama administration, the American people have chosen a new direction for our nation. President-elect Trump has a significant opportunity to bring our nation together,” McConnell said. “It is my hope and intent that we succeed in the years ahead by working together with our colleagues across the aisle to strengthen our national and economic security.”

Democratic operatives struggled to explain why their optimistic assessments of retaking Senate control were so mistaken. Some blamed unexpected turnout by certain segments of white voters, or FBI Director James Comey’s bombshell announcement that he was reviewing a new batch of emails connected with Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In Pennsylvania, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey won a narrow victory for his second term over Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. It was a race Democrats expected to win going into the night — and one that many Republicans felt nearly as sure they’d lose.

The story was the same in Wisconsin, where GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, written off for months by his own party, won re-election against former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in a rematch.

In Missouri and North Carolina, where entrenched GOP incumbents Roy Blunt and Richard Burr faced unexpectedly strong challenges from Democrats, both prevailed in the end.

Democrats did grab a Republican-held seat in Illinois, where GOP Sen. Mark Kirk lost to Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee Iraq war vet. That stood as the one Democratic pickup.

The other bright spot for Democrats was in Nevada, where Minority Leader Harry Reid’s retirement after five terms created a vacancy and the one Democratic-held seat that was closely contested. Reid maneuvered to fill it with Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada’s former attorney general, who spoke of her family’s immigrant roots in a state with heavy Latino turnout.

Cortez Masto will become the first Latina U.S. senator. She beat Republican Rep. Joe Heck, who struggled with sharing the ticket with Donald Trump, first endorsing and then un-endorsing Trump to the disgust of some GOP voters.

Indeed the Senate races were shadowed every step of the way by the polarizing presidential race between Clinton and Trump. Yet in the end, Trump was not the drag on GOP candidates widely anticipated. Republicans like Johnson who endorsed him and stuck with him won re-election, as did others like Pennsylvania’s Toomey who never backed Trump until the very end. And so did a few like GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona who un-endorsed Trump after audio emerged of him boasting of groping women.

McCain, at age 80, won his sixth term in quite possibly his final campaign. The 2008 GOP presidential nominee was re-elected without much difficulty despite early predictions of a competitive race, and struck a reflective note ahead of the outcome.

“While as Yogi Berra said, ‘I hate to make predictions, especially about the future,’ I’m not sure how many more I have in me,” McCain said.

In Indiana, GOP Rep. Todd Young beat former Democratic senator and governor Evan Bayh, who mounted a much-ballyhooed comeback bid, but wilted under scrutiny. And in Florida, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio beat Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, giving Rubio a platform from which he could mount another bid for president in 2020.

In New York, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democrats’ leader-in-waiting for a new Congress, easily won re-election. But the results elsewhere meant he would be leading a Senate minority.

Even though the GOP’s renewed control of the Senate will be narrow, the advantages of being in the majority are significant. The controlling party sets the legislative agenda and runs investigations. First up is likely to be a nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

___

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

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Hillary Clinton pauses as she addresses her staff and supporters about the results of the U.S. election at a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON — Despite losing Tuesday’s presidential election, Hillary Clinton appears to be on pace to win the popular vote, an ironic twist in an election in which her opponent repeatedly said the system was rigged against him.

Just two days before Election Day, Republican businessman Donald Trump tweeted: “The Electoral College is a disaster for a democracy.”

As it turns out, without the Electoral College, Trump probably wouldn’t be the president-elect.

A day after Election Day, Clinton held a narrow lead in the popular vote, according to unofficial results tallied by The Associated Press. With nearly 125 million votes counted, Clinton had 47.7 percent of the vote and Trump had 47.5 percent.

That’s a lead of about 236,000 votes.

Many states count votes after Election Day, so Clinton isn’t guaranteed to keep her lead. However, most of the outstanding votes appear to be in Democratic-leaning states, making it very likely she will become the second Democratic candidate for president this century to win the popular vote but lose the presidency.

The biggest chunk of uncounted votes is in California. Washington State, New York, Oregon and Maryland also have large numbers of uncounted votes. Clinton won all those states, and if the trends continue, she will pad her lead by more than 1 million votes.

There are also votes to be counted in Arizona and Alaska, two Republican-leaning states. But they are far outnumbered by uncounted votes in Democratic states.

Under the Electoral College system, each state gets one vote for each member of Congress representing the state. California has the most, with 55. Seven states have only three. The District of Columbia has three, even though the nation’s capital has no vote in Congress.

It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Trump’s total stands at 279, with races in Michigan, New Hampshire and Arizona too close to call.

There have been occasional calls to scrap the Electoral College, with no success. The latest push came after the 2000 presidential election, in which Democrat Al Gore lost to Republican George W. Bush, despite winning the popular vote.

Any calls to scrap the Electoral College aren’t likely to go anywhere this time, either, with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate.

Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate for vice president, praised Clinton on Wednesday for winning the popular vote.

But when Clinton made her concession speech, she didn’t mention it.

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