Donald Trump’s victory was declared when, at just about 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 6, the media projected he had won swing state Wisconsin, taking him over the 270-vote electoral college count needed to win the presidency. 

Per his campaign promises, President-Elect Trump will probably focus first on the economy and immigration. He vowed to trigger a wide and large deportation of illegal immigrants, and to cut taxes for corporations as well as for working Americans. He says he will extend the expiring 2017 tax rules (they include income and capital gains tax rates and the Section 199A 20 percent deduction for qualifying noncorporate income), lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, and impose tariffs on a wide range of imported goods.

Results of the 2024 elections will be certified first on a state-by-state basis and then formally by Congress in late December. President-Elect Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025.

Prospects: President-Elect Trump’s ability to get his agenda through Congress will depend on Congressional support. And results for the Congressional elections are still coming in. We know, however, that the Senate will be controlled by Republicans—most of them Trump supporters. Also complicating the Trump agenda will be the spiraling federal deficit (currently projected to be $1.83 trillion) and debt (over $35 trillion), something more and more lawmakers are worrying about. Also necessary is legislation to either suspend or increase the statutory debt limit – or risk default on at least some of the U.S. debt, something economists widely believe would be a catastrophic development – by mid-2025. Thus, prospects for the Trump agenda are somewhat murky.

NAIFA Staff Contacts: Diane Boyle – Senior Vice President – Government Relations, at dboyle@naifa.org; or Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org; or Michael Hedge – Senior Director – Government Relations, at mhedge@naifa.org.