November 8, 2016Primary sourceWell documented
The 2016 Election: Donald Trump
On the timeline · around November 8, 2016 ·
What happened
In one of the biggest upsets in American political history, the businessman and reality-TV star Donald Trump, who had never held public office, defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016. Trump won 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227, flipping the industrial 'blue wall' of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — even as he lost the national popular vote by nearly three million.
Why it matters
Trump's victory upended both political parties, gave voice to a populist, anti-establishment movement, and ushered in a turbulent, polarizing era in American politics whose battles — over immigration, trade, the courts, and the nature of democracy itself — would define the years that followed.
Sources
- US National Archives. 2016 Electoral College Results (2016) · Primary source