Donald Trump Defeats Hillary Clinton For President
(CBS) -- Donald J. Trump has been elected President of the United States, surging to victory behind widespread voter anger against establishment politicians in Washington.
In a speech to supporters shortly before 2 a.m., Trump congratulated Hillary Clinton for her hard fought campaign and public service.
"We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country," Trump said. "It is time for us to come together as one united people."
"I will be president for all Americans."
Signs pointed to Trump following victories earlier in the evening in Florida, North Carolina and a sizeable win in Ohio. Then he added Wisconsin, a state that Clinton hadn't visited since the spring, which put Trump past 270 electoral votes.
Along with wins in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and possibly Michigan, Trump would essentially sweep the Midwest.
Clinton had called Trump around 1:40 a.m. to concede.
News of his victory sent stock market futures into a nose dive.
Earlier Wednesday, the Clinton team said the race remained too close to call.
Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta appeared before supporters around 1 a.m. and told the crowd, "We can wait a little longer. Everybody should head home and get some sleep. We will have more to say tomorrow."
The outcome stunned experts, including Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who told CBS News that "exit polling should be banned."
Going into Tuesday, most forecasts gave Clinton a strong probability of becoming the first female president.
House Speaker Paul Ryan congratulated Donald Trump on "his big night."
A Ryan spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the Republican speaker called the Republican presidential nominee Tuesday evening. The spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, says they had "a very good conversation."
Election Day ended a nasty, brutally personal and divisive campaign unprecendented in political history.
Voters seemed to not favor either candidate strongly.
More than half of Americans who went to the polls said Clinton has the temperament to serve as president. About a third of voters said the same about Trump.
Neither candidate could claim a mandate as the honest candidate according to the preliminary results of exit polling conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.
About six out of 10 voters say they don't view Clinton as honest. About the same proportion say Trump isn't honest. About three out of 10 voters say they believe neither candidate is honest.
As for what percentage of voters think both nominees are honest, that number is in single digits.
