Donald Trump declared victory in the 2024 US presidential elections on Wednesday, following projections by various American media outlets showing his win against Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
Addressing his supporters at Florida’s Palm Beach County Convention Center, Trump said, “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate”. He acknowledged his running mate JD Vance and praised Vance’s Indian-American spouse Usha Chilukuri Vance.
“I want to be the first one to congratulate — now I can say vice president-elect JD Vance. And his remarkable and beautiful wife, Usha Vance,” Trump said.
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The rally was attended by Trump’s wife Melania Trump, alongside JD and Usha Vance on the stage.
Trump described the 40-year-old JD Vance as a “feisty guy” in his remarks. “And he’s a feisty guy, isn’t he? I’ve said [to him], ‘Go into the enemy camp’. And you know the enemy camp is certain networks. He’ll say, ‘All right, thank you very much’. He really looks forward to it, and then he just goes and absolutely obliterates them.
Usha Vance, set to become the first non-white US second lady if Trump returns to office, hails from Vadluru, a village in Andhra Pradesh. She met Vance during their studies at Yale Law School, and they married in 2014, subsequently having three children.
“We’ve made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that we overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible,” Trump declared in his speech. “It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before.”
During his “victory speech”, Trump also thanked Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive for supporting the Republican presidential candidate.