It came just before 3 a.m. Eastern time Nov. 9. Donald Trump walked on stage at the New York Hilton Midtown and announced, “I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us … on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.”
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, had conceded the race to her Republican opponent, Trump. Her long quest for the presidency ended, and Trump was making his first steps as president-elect.
Trump thanked Clinton, saying, “We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.” He said it was time to “bind the wounds of division” and urged “all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation … to come together as one united people.”
As NCR went to press Nov. 9, Trump had secured 279 electoral votes to Clinton’s 228, according to The New York Times. However, Clinton had a slim lead on the popular vote, 59,647,621 votes to 59,438,580 votes, a margin of 1.2 percentage points.
