"This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond," The Guardian reported Mr Trump saying.
"And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance, because we’re going to help our country. We’ll help our country ... we have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly.
"We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country. And we made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that we overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it is now clear that we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing."
He continued: I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president, and every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day, I will be fighting for you and with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve.
"This will truly be the golden age of America.
Mr Trump claimed victory after Fox News projected that he had defeated Ms Harris after he won in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
He was leading in each of the remaining four battleground states, any one of which would push his Electoral College total above the 270 needed to win.
At Ms Harris’s watch party at Howard University in the nation’s capital last night, the mood among students, faculty and alumni became sombre as the night wore on, as their hopes that Ms Harris could possibly become the first president to graduate from a historically black college and university dimmed.
Earlier in the evening, the Howard community was preparing for a historic moment. On Georgia Avenue in Washington DC, a long line of supporters stretched down the street as people gathered after casting their vote.
Among them was Jayy Jones, the Howard University student association president, who was attempting to soak in the moment.
"This is insane," he said.
"Howard University is a pivotal place for civic engagement and the continuance of civic activism, and for us to be here on the Yard during this pivotal time in history is just amazing. And to be sitting here as student body president is nothing more and nothing short of amazing, and I’m nothing but grateful."
But their optimism seeped away the longer the night wore on and more votes were counted.
For American voters who cared more about the economy than other issues — and the nearly half who said they are worse off financially than four years ago — their choice for the next president appeared resoundingly clear: Republican Trump.
About 31% of voters said the economy was their top issue, ranking second behind the 35% who said the state of democracy mattered most to them, according to national exit polling data from Edison Research.
And the voters who identified the economy as their primary concern voted overwhelmingly for Mr Trump over Ms Harris — 79% to 20%.
— Guardian News and Media/Reuters
