NEW YORK — Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.
A wealthy real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win the White House race against Clinton, the Democratic candidate whose gold-plated establishment resume included stints as a first lady, US senator and secretary of state.
President Barack Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, telephoned the Republican to congratulate him on his victory and invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday, the White House said in a statement.
“Ensuring a smooth transition of power is one of the top priorities the President identified at the beginning of the year and a meeting with the President-elect is the next step,” the White House said.
Worried that a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors were in full flight from risky assets.
The US dollar, Mexican peso and world stocks fell on Wednesday but fears of the kind of shock that wiped trillions of dollars off global markets after Britain’s “Brexit” vote in June have failed to materialize so far.
Trump appeared with his family before cheering supporters in a New York hotel ballroom, saying it was time to heal the divisions caused by the campaign and find common ground after a campaign that exposed deep differences among Americans.
“It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said. “I will be president for all Americans.”
His comments were an abrupt departure from his campaign trail rhetoric in which he repeatedly slammed Clinton as “crooked” amid supporters’ chants of “lock her up.”
Republicans also kept control of the US Congress. Television networks projected the party would retain majorities in both the 100-seat Senate and the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs.
Despite losing the state-by-state electoral battle that determines the US presidency, Clinton narrowly led Trump in the nationwide popular vote, according to US media tallies. It would mark the second time in 16 years that a Democratic candidate lost the presidency despite winning more votes than the victor. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore got more votes than Republican George W. Bush.
At Clinton’s election event a mile away from Trump’s victory party, an electric atmosphere among supporters expecting to see her become America’s first woman president dissipated.
Clinton did not immediately make a concession speech, instead sending campaign chairman John Podesta out to tell her supporters to go home.
“We’re not going to have anything more to say tonight,” he said. Clinton was expected to speak on Wednesday morning, an aide said.
In his victory speech, he said he had a great economic plan, would embark on a project to rebuild American infrastructure and would double US economic growth.
Trump, who at 70 will be the oldest first-term US president, came out on top after a bitter and divisive campaign that focused largely on the character of the candidates and whether they could be trusted in the Oval Office.
Foreign leaders pledged to work with Trump but some officials expressed alarm that the vote could mark the end of an era in which Washington promoted democratic values and was seen by its allies as a guarantor of peace. During the campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the NATO military alliance and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defense burden.
