Both candidates came into the election predicting optimism, but it was the Trump campaign that saw momentum build Tuesday night as Harris supporters at Howard University faced disappointment.

Senate Republicans lost control of the upper chamber after four years of Democratic control. Meanwhile, House Democrats could flip the lower chamber after key elections are called.

Now that the elections are almost over, here are the main takeaways from the presidential and congressional elections.

Trump once again tops the polls and wins a second term in the White House

Heading into Election Day, Trump and Harris were neck and neck both nationally and in all seven battlegrounds.

But the candidates’ agendas during the final month of the campaign made clear that they were prioritizing separate paths to the White House. Trump held dozens of rallies in the Sun Belt (Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina), while Harris decided to spend most of her time campaigning in the Blue Wall, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Still, by the time he declared himself the 2024 winner on Wednesday morning, Trump had already been declared the victor in every battleground that had been called: Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Furthermore, Trump’s margins in those states not only exceeded those in this cycle’s polls, but also surpassed his marks in the 2020 and 2016 presidential election cycles.

Early Wednesday morning, NBC News even predicted that Trump would win the national popular vote, another first in his third general election campaign.

He Associated Press called the race for Trump on Wednesday at 5:44 a.m. after winning Wisconsin and surpassing the 270 electoral vote threshold.

Trump makes massive gains among black and Latino voters

Republicans have been touting increased support among minority voters for years, and while that didn’t provide the red wave some predicted in the 2022 midterms, that phenomenon definitely showed up in the 2024 exit polls.

Exit polls showed Trump garnering about 20% support among black men in both Georgia and North Carolina, battlegrounds that proved critical to Trump’s second run at the White House. By comparison, in 2020, Trump garnered just 11% support from black voters in Georgia and 7% in North Carolina.

Trump performed even better among Latino men, and NBC’s exit poll showed Trump actually leading Harris nationally among the demographic.

This comes after Harris’ campaign claimed that Trump’s rhetoric over the past two weeks, along with controversial comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Madison Square Garden rally, were tilting the Latino vote toward Democrats.

Money can’t buy an election

Harris’ campaign easily outfunded Trump’s campaign, but it proved to have made little difference in the election.

Despite raising at least $1 billion in about three months, an unprecedented amount of money, Harris will not succeed President Joe Biden as the next commander in chief.

In the final three months of the cycle, Harris’ team repeatedly boasted in memos that its ground-game strategy in battleground states outpaced the Trump apparatus, which largely handed over its strategy to outside groups like the America PAC of Elon Musk and Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action.

Republicans take back the Senate

The GOP easily lost control of the Senate Tuesday night, as Democrats faced a difficult map to defend vulnerable incumbents.

The first sign of republican victory came early when Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) easily defeated Democrat Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling in the race to replace the outgoing one Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV).

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) lost his reelection bid when Republican challenger Bernie Moreno flipped his seat and Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) defeated independent challenger Dan Osborn, guaranteeing a Republican majority.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also survived a challenge from Democrat Colin Allred, further helping the GOP maintain its lead in the upper chamber.

Democrats scored some victory with Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland defeating former Republican Governor Larry Hogan in Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester winning the Delaware Senate race.

House Democrats fight to regain control

Control of the House may not be known for several days, as the winners of key districts are not yet known. being calculated.

But Democrats gained at least two seats, signaling their march toward the lower house.

New York Democrat John Mannion defeated Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) and Democrat Josh Riley unseated Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) in New York’s 19th District.

As of 5:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, only five drawing seats out of 22 have been called, but that could change in the coming hours and days as winners are determined.

Candidates matter

Governor-elect Josh Stein (D-NC) quickly won his race against Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson (R-NC). Robinson’s series of controversies underscored Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) argument that the quality of candidates matters.

Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake is another example of a Trumpian candidate who couldn’t rely solely on the former president’s endorsement. Lake trailed Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) for the state’s open Senate seat by a reported 53%, even as Trump maintained a two-point lead over Harris.

The quality of the candidates was not only a problem for the Republicans.

Volumes could be written about whether Democrats should have held an open primary instead of swapping Harris for President Joe Biden. After all, Harris never made it out of Iowa during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

And according to exit polls, Harris clearly had trouble convincing voters that she offered a substantially different approach to handling the economy and immigration, both major issues of this cycle.

Abortion amendments have a mixed night

For the first time since Roe v. Wade was repealed, a state abortion amendment failed when voters were given the opportunity to make their voices heard.

Florida voters failed to reach the 60% threshold needed to pass the Amendment 4 ballot question, meaning the state’s six-week abortion ban will remain in effect.

The amendment, if approved, would have enshrined access to abortion up to approximately 24 weeks.

The failed measure is a success for DeSantis, who signed the six-week ban into law and campaigned against the amendment.

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South Dakota voters on Tuesday also rejected an abortion amendment establishing a constitutional right to abortion, while Nebraska voters approved Measure 434, which limits abortion after the first trimester.

However, in Maryland, Arizona and New York, voters chose to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. Voters in Missouri overturned the state’s near-total ban on abortion by approving Amendment 3, which enshrines abortion protections in the state constitution and allows the procedure for about 24 weeks.