The 14 Places That Explain Trump’s Victory

In Pennsylvania, the handwringing and recriminations started almost as soon as the essential 2024 battleground state was called for Donald Trump.

How did Philadelphia, the Democratic bulwark, deliver such an anemic margin for Kamala Harris? What explains the bellwether counties that Donald Trump wrested back after Joe Biden flipped them to the Democratic Party? And what happened in rural Pennsylvania, where the Harris campaign made an effort to show the flag and yet still lost 30 of the state’s 67 counties by more than 40 points?

It was a story that repeated itself across the electoral map, in swing states and non-competitive states alike. The Democratic coalition that delivered a convincing victory to Biden just a few years earlier simply disintegrated Tuesday, leaving the party stunned and disoriented over the scope of the destruction — and the GOP suddenly invigorated.

Not all the votes are counted yet, but the architecture of Trump’s victory is clear.