• Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will beat his Democratic rival Kamala Harris and return to the White House for another four years.
• Trump is only the second president to win two non-consecutive terms in the White House.
• His running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, will serve as vice president.
• Trump’s victory deprives Harris, the vice president, of the chance to become the first female president of the United States.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will defeat his Democratic rival, Kamala Harrisand return to the White House for another four years, NBC News projects.

After losing his re-election bid to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump, the 45th president, will now become the 47th.

Trump’s victory marks a series of historic firsts. At 78, he is the oldest person to win a U.S. presidential election. He will be the first president in 132 years – since Grover Cleveland – to serve two non-consecutive terms. And he emerged victorious from what is probably the more expensive presidential race in history.

He is also the first president, current or former, to be convicted of crimes. He is the first twice-impeached president to win back the White House. He is the first president to take office while fending off criminal charges in several active federal and state cases.

Trump’s victory deprives Harris, the vice president, of what would have been her own historic milestone: becoming the first female president of the United States.

It also represents a stunning political achievement for Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who won his first election two years earlier.

At just 40 years old, Vance, a former Trump critic turned loyalist and leading advocate of the president-elect’s right-wing populist movement, is now first in the presidential line of succession.

If Trump keeps his campaign promises, his second administration will soon move to enact an ambitious and controversial agenda centered on deep tax cuts, mass deportations and an overhaul of relations with foreign leaders.

Trump also pledged to impose heavy tariffs, saying they would simultaneously raise U.S. revenues, strengthen domestic industries and deter unwanted foreign competition.

Mainstream economists have repeatedly warned that tariffs, which are taxes paid by U.S. importers, would raise prices for U.S. consumers.

It remains to be seen how much Trump’s presidential agenda will resemble the sum of his many demands as a candidate.

He pledged to pardon his supporters who violently rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He assured that he would quickly negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a vague position that threatens to undermine the Biden administration’s policy of strong support for kyiv.

He said he would turn health policy over to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch vaccine skeptic, and tap billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk to propose cuts of several billion dollars in public spending.

He denied Democrats’ warnings that he would behave like a dictator in office, “except on the first day.”

A campaign like no other

The campaign that helped elect Trump was no less historic.

Trump survived an assassination attempt in mid-July. Thomas Matthew Crooksa 20-year-old registered Republican who had donated to a Democratic group opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Crooks shot a rally attendee and one of his bullets grazed Trump’s ear, leaving blood trails on his face.

Trump’s immediate reaction to the shooting: pumping his fist and defiantly telling his supporters to “fight!” as Secret Service agents rushed him from the stage – instantly became a defining moment of the campaign.

A few days later, the race was upset again.

In late July, Harris, 60, was catapulted to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket after Biden announced he would not run again.

Biden’s stunning move, which made him the first outgoing president since Lyndon Johnson to voluntarily end his time in the White House, was one he initially resisted.

The 81-year-old and his allies, including Harris, had vehemently defended his physical and mental fitness for four more years as president.

But an undercurrent of Democratic unease dramatically boiled over after a shocking debate in late June, when Biden, frail and distracted-looking, delivered raspy, hesitant and inarticulate responses against Trump.

Less than a month later, amid a collapse in domestic support and declining poll numbers, Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Harris to replace him.

The shift effectively reset the race, forcing Trump to abandon many of his well-rehearsed attacks and adapt to an opponent free of Biden’s most glaring weaknesses.

The transition has not been smooth: Harris defeated Trump in the one and only candidates’ debate in mid-September, and Trump declined her repeated challenges to face off again.

But polls gradually showed the race tightening, as Trump’s campaign worked to blame Harris for the inflation and immigration problems that had dragged down Biden’s approval rating throughout his presidency .