Source: Financial Association News
Author: Xia Junxiong
According to media reports citing sources, former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate Trump’s advisers told him that if he leads Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Harris by enough votes in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, he should announce victory on election night, though it is unclear whether Trump will heed this advice.
The 2024 U.S. presidential election began on Tuesday (November 5) local time. According to past experience, the winner of the U.S. election is usually known late on election night or early the next morning, but given the unusually close nature of this election, it may take longer to reach a conclusion.
Trump's advisers believe that if Trump has a lead of hundreds of thousands of votes in Pennsylvania, or if his internal polling indicates he is likely to win even if results are not fully in by Tuesday night, then claiming victory would not be a loss for Trump.
However, even Trump's most aggressive allies have suggested that if the race remains close late on election night, he should not announce victory prematurely to avoid looking foolish.
Whether Trump will announce victory early depends on him. His aides acknowledge that if Trump decides to do so, there may be no one on his team who can dissuade him.
Given that Trump announced victory early in the 2020 election, Harris's campaign team previously stated that they have a contingency plan in place to deal with Trump employing the same tactic.
Sources revealed that Trump has not mentioned his plans for election night much this time, in stark contrast to the 2020 election, when he informed allies in advance that he would declare victory regardless of the outcome.
Trump himself also avoided the question while voting on Tuesday, saying, "I don’t know what will happen in terms of announcing victory. It looks like we have a big advantage, and Republicans are voting in much greater numbers than Democrats. So, if you are ahead and have a lot of votes, it means you are doing very well, but they have to announce a winner. They should announce a winner."
