Election 2024 updates: Trump begins selecting cabinet positions

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Last updated: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 5:26PM GMT
Trump's cabinet picks include close allies from his campaign
President-elect Donald Trump is naming members to his administration. Here's a look at the president-elect's appointees so far.

Just days after former President Donald Trump was projected to have won the presidency, Trump's transition team operation has begun, with transition co-chairs confirming that he will be selecting personnel to serve under his leadership in the coming days.

Trump is also the projected winner in Arizona, a state the former president flipped after losing it to Joe Biden in 2020.

Trump's projected win in the vital swing state marks a sweep of the battleground states.

ABCNews logo
Nov 06, 2024, 8:59 AM

Track electoral vote count and results map for the presidential election

See how the balance of power is playing out as election results come in:

MORE | 2024 election: Track electoral vote count and results map for the presidential election

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Nov 06, 2024, 11:44 AM GMT

Will Trump have a (truly) unified government this time around?

While control of the House is still up in the air, should it fall into the GOP column, Trump would begin his second presidency once again with a unified government behind him, and we'd get an immediate sense of how his approach to governance may have changed and how closely Republicans fall in line behind him. I think it's worth reminding ourselves that another Trump candidacy, let alone presidency, was far from a given at the end of his last term.

Trump's first presidency was marked by some growing pains between his outsider, populist style and more establishment Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate. That caused some fits and starts in implementing an agenda - with Republicans sometimes seeming to govern in spite of Trump as much as with him or under his leadership. Even the end of his presidency was marked by Congress scrambling back into session to override his veto of a bipartisan defense policy bill on New Year's Day 2021.

Check that date - it was just a few days before the Jan. 6 insurrection. After the events of Jan. 6, seven GOP senators voted to impeach the former president, and others - like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - at least flirted with it. While it wasn't a full-throated rebuke from the party on paper, it did feel like many Republicans in Congress were eager to close the door on Trump's chapter of the GOP. That was still the narrative after the party's underwhelming 2022 midterms, when Trump's endorsed candidates seemed to flounder. The party at that time seemed to be facing a choice about its future.

Still, as soon as the 2024 Republican primaries started, it seemed that Republicans resigned themselves to making Trump their standard-bearer once again. Even as a presidential candidate, he held significant sway over the GOP agenda, like when he tanked a bipartisan border deal early this year. And as we heard hints of in his speech tonight, Trump is almost certainly going to take full credit for what looks to be a great election cycle for Republicans. His standing as party leader may translate better to Congress this time around, between his experience in the job and what looks to be a larger Senate GOP majority. After tonight, it feels like it's Trump's GOP, and we're all just living in it.

ABCNews logo
Nov 06, 2024, 11:04 AM GMT

Trump wins Wisconsin and the presidency

ABC News projects that Trump has won Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes. With that, Trump has won 276 electoral votes and is projected to win the entire presidential race. He will move into the White House on Jan. 20.

Donald Trump elected as the 47th president of the United States, ABC News projects
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Nov 06, 2024, 10:56 AM GMT

Trump projected to win Alaska

And Trump keeps adding to his total: ABC News is projecting that he has won Alaska's three electoral votes. He now has 279 total.

ByNathaniel Rakich ABCNews logo
Nov 06, 2024, 10:08 AM GMT

Trump could carry all seven swing states

Let's check in on the results in the seven main presidential swing states. As we've reported, Trump is already projected to win Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. And so far, more votes have been counted for him than for Harris in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin as well. That raises the possibility that he could sweep all seven states for a 312-226 Electoral College victory.