Election 2024 live: Trump wins Arizona to complete clean sweep of swing states

The battleground state of Arizona was called for Donald Trump just before 9.30pm on Saturday, making it the last to be called in the 2024 election and completing a clean sweep of seven swing states for the Republican.

The projected victory is a feather in Trump’s cap as it means he won all seven swing states over Vice President Kamala Harris and flipped the state red after narrowly losing Arizona to Biden in 2020.

Susie Wiles, the newly appointed chief of staff to the second Trump White House, reportedly made a series of demands before she would accept the high-profile role in the president-elect’s upcoming administration.

Wiles, 66, described by Trump himself as the “ice maiden” and considered to be one of the most significant influences on his third campaign, was appointed to the top job on Thursday.

Historically, the Chief of Staff is the first appointee named by the president-elect and is charged with overseeing all policy and day-to-day White House affairs.

But, according to a source close to both Wiles and Trump, the former campaign manager had sought assurances from the president-elect prior to taking the role.

The source said that Wiles wanted confirmation that she would have more authority than her predecessors in controlling access to the Oval Office, before accepting the job.

With President Joe Biden on the way out and President-elect Donald Trump about to take office, both Republicans and Democrats are considering whether or not they should push for Supreme Court justices to retire to benefit their parties.

Biden has a little more than two months before he leaves office, prompting Democrats to wonder if they should increase pressure on Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 70, to retire, according to Politico.

In the meantime, Republicans are already thinking about who could replace Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, when Trump takes office, the National Review reported.

The 2024 presidential election completely upended many people’s expectations. After Democrats booted Joe Biden from the top of their ticket to put Kamala Harris in place, she lost all seven of the major battleground states.

And now, as Republicans plan to drag Democrats’ “political dead bodies through the streets and burn them,” and Democrats deal with a reckoning, a few trends have emerged that continue to baffle some onlookers.

Here are five major shocks of the 2024 presidential election — and why they might have happened.

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Joe Germanotta, Lady Gaga’s father, declared his new political stance in 2020 when he endorsed Donald Trump for president.

At the time, the “Poker Face” singer, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, was very vocal about her support of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I came out as a Republican on FOX & Friends, ever since then, you know, it’s been a little dicey at home,” he confessed on November 6. “But you know, (we’ll) get past it.”

Germanotta admitted he thinks of himself as an “open-minded Republican” who actively supports the LGBTQ community.

“People need to understand that even though I’m a Republican and I have Republican conservative attitudes, that doesn’t mean I don’t support the LGBTQ community, or drag as a form of artistry,” he said before noting how drag artists perform at his Manhattan restaurant, Joanne Trattoria, every week.

Nearly two decades after those prisoners arrived at Guantánamo, a new lawsuit could reveal more about what went on inside, and whether it was under the full “operational control” of the CIA.

Hours before Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her concession speech, two Christian protestors disrupted a Texas university campus with signs that branded women “property” and used homophobic slurs.

The incident at Texas State University at San Marcos united students on both sides of the political aisle in anger as the men paraded around for an hour before being escorted off the property.

Eva De Arment, a 19-year-old sophomore, was in the university’s English building waiting for class to start when she saw Snapchat images of the signs, including one that listed “women” and “slaves” alongside cars as “property.”

Scholars say sexism, racism and misogyny helped Trump score a historic second term. The Independent has emailed the Trump campaign for comment. De Arment is now worried she’ll be exposed to more of the sexist rhetoric she heard on campus this week.

“I do believe that there is a nuance that the election made them comfortable enough to come onto a campus with signs like that,” she said. “I am afraid.”

Donald Trump clinched Arizona, the final state to be called in the 2024 race, on Saturday evening, according to AP Decision Desk.

Votes are still being counted in the swing state, but 87 per cent have been tallied already, enough to make the call.

Trump won racked up 1,574,244 votes — 52.6 per cent — compared to Harris’ 1,389,309 votes — 46.4 per cent of the vote.

The president-elect’s victory in the state comes four years after he narrowly lost Arizona to Biden — and means he swept all seven swing states.

Arizona’s 11 electoral votes brings Trump to a final total to 312 electoral votes compared to Harris’ 226.

The president-elect announced on Saturday that his inaugural committee will be chaired by Florida real estate investor Steven Witkoff and former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler.

He described the pair as “longtime friends and supporters.”

“On Election Night, we made history and I have the extraordinary honor of having been elected the 47th President of the United States thanks to tens millions of hardworking Americans across the nation who supported our America First agenda. The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee will honor this magnificent victory in a celebration of the American People and our nation,” Trump said in a statement.

“This will be the kick-off to my administration, which will deliver on bold promises to Make America Great Again. Together, we will celebrate this moment, steeped on history and tradition, and then get to work to achieve the most incredible future for our people, restoring strength, success, and common sense to the Oval Office.”