WASHINGTON

Republican candidate Donald Trump surpassed 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the 2024 US presidential election, The Associated Press said on Wednesday.

Trump defeated his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s race, winning 277 Electoral College votes and securing his spot as the nation’s 47th president.

He won key swing states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, 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 would make 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.