After Americans took to the polls on November 5th, Donald J. Trump has been declared the winner of America’s 2024 presidential election, and is projected to win 312 of the nation’s 538 electoral votes. Despite election officials’ warnings that the vote-counting process could take weeks to finish, Trump won key swing states by a wide enough margin that such a delay was deemed unnecessary.
Many Americans held concerns, based on the contentious nature of the past two elections, that a delay in announcing the election’s winner could lead to civil unrest. After the election’s outcome became clear, however, Vice President Kamala Harris took to X (formerly Twitter) to make a gracious statement acknowledging Trump’s election victory and advocating for peace and stability as the current administration makes the transition. Donald Trump surprised many during his victory speech by speaking very little of his own merits, instead crediting the win to the campaign strategy and hard work of his aides, family members, and supporters.
Because the nation’s political parties have become increasingly polarized in recent years, many consider Harris’ call for peaceful transition and Trump’s bipartisan cabinet candidates as a step in the right direction towards healing the divide between the parties and reestablishing civil political discourse. If you would like to learn more about the importance of civility in politics, click here to listen to Catholic author Jimmy Akin discuss the issue with Jamie Morris on the MCC from the Capitol podcast. Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement reiterating the call for civility. “As Christians, and as Americans, we have the duty to treat each other with charity, respect, and civility, even if we may disagree on how to carry out matters of public policy.”