Republican Donald J. Trump has beaten Democrat, Vice President Kamala Harris in a tight and bruising presidential contest and was elected 47th president of the United States.

The former president crossed the threshold with 277 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win by winning the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia and sweeping the so-called "blue wall" of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of the seven swing states, only Arizona and Nevada have yet to be called, with the former president ahead in both.

With about 77% of expected votes already counted, Trump is also ahead in the popular vote with 77,280,000 to Harris' 66,354,000 (51% to 47.5%).

The Republicans have also taken back control of the U.S. Senate after flipping many Democrat-held seats while holding their own. The Democrats have held the majority in the Senate since 2020.

In the U.S. House where all 435 seats were up for grabs, the Republicans have won 197 seats to the Democrats' 177 with 62 seats yet to be called. There is an outside chance that the Democrats may flip the House, but Trump's down-ballot success makes this highly unlikely.

If the Republicans manage to hold on to their House majority, Trump will have unfettered control of the U.S. government, and with the U.S Supreme Court firmly in Republican hands, a "superfecta." Not since Barrack Obama's election in 2008 did one political party have control of all three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial.

What went wrong for the Democrats? This topic will be beaten to a pulp by political analysts and pundits for many months to come, but there are a few glaring realities that cannot be overlooked. Harris was definitely weighed down by an unpopular incumbent president whose approval ratings were in the low 40's going into the general election, years of runaway inflation that sapped American consumers' purchasing power and severely impacted their economic well-being, a post-COVID recovery that did very little in providing much needed jobs, an incoherent border policy which resulted in tens of thousands of illegal migrants being released into U.S. cities.

There are many more factors that analysts will ponder on, never mind that Harris was catapulted into the presidential race barely 90 days before the election with Biden's disastrous debate performance, she did manage to run a vigorous campaign that just fell short, but the proverbial "it's the economy, stupid" that probably resonates the most.

Despite Trump's many negatives and character flaws, many Americans were willing to overlook his faults and have given the Democrats a verdict on the failures of the last four years.