Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 6. Trump achieved victory, in part, by shifting Democratic counties to the right.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Widespread gains helped President-elect Donald Trump win a number of key swing states that decided the 2024 race.
In Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — places that President Biden won in 2020 and that returned to Trump this year — turnout data from The Associated Press show the market shifting to the right in nearly every county in every state. The victories in these three states put Trump above the electoral vote threshold needed to win the White House.
Trump held tight to his margins in rural counties — despite Democratic attempts to chip away at those leads. Additionally, compared to previous elections, Republicans increased their vote count in more liberal urban areas and competitive suburbs where Harris was counting on high turnout.
In Pennsylvania, tens of thousands more voters in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh cast ballots for Trump than in 2016, a stunning turnaround in two Democratic strongholds. Trump also saw an increase in support in a number of large suburban counties bordering Philadelphia.
In Georgia, Trump also received more votes than his performance in previous elections in the state’s liberal-leaning cities and suburbs. Harris was counting on the attendance of voters in the Atlanta metropolitan area, as they did with Biden in historic numbers. But many of those Democratic swings from 2020 in Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties didn’t hold up, and instead, Republicans picked up the votes.
The trends in Wisconsin look similar, although Dane County seemed to buck the trend with a lower “bounce” voting rate. However, despite generally high voter turnout in the district that includes the capital, Madison, Harris won by a relatively smaller percentage compared to the percentage of votes that Biden won four years ago. The state’s main metropolitan area, Milwaukee, mirrored similar metropolitan areas in other swing states: it moved slightly to the right, toward Trump.
Daniel Wood Contributed to data analysis.
