Utahns and the rest of America woke up Wednesday to the news that Donald Trump again had been elected president of the United States — and reacted, depending on their political views, with celebration or disbelief.
Wins in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin put Trump over the threshold of 270 electoral votes, and major news outlets called the presidential race at around 3:38 a.m. Mountain time Wednesday. Fox News, however, projected Trump’s win before midnight.
Major news outlets called solidly red Utah for Trump shortly after 8 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday — after polls had officially closed, but before many people in line, particularly in Utah and Washington counties, had voted.
According to a tally posted at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, Trump and running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance had received 58.9% of the vote in Utah, compared to 38.9% for the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Between the Fox declaration and the other news outlets’ reporting, members of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation posted their congratulations on social media.
At 12:32 a.m., Rep. Celeste Maloy posted on X: “I look forward to working with [Trump] and his administration on issues critical to Utahns. He listened and responded to Utah when he was in office before, and I’m happy to help make that happen again.”
Sen. Mike Lee, on his personal X account, posted on X at 12:44 a.m.: “Note to Democrats: Americans don’t like socialism. Or inflation. Or border invasions. Or endless wars. Or race bating [sic]. Or presidents who try to jail their opponents. Or surgical mutilation of children. Or celebrating infanticide as a sacrament. Or tax hikes. Americans said ‘no!’”
Lee — who spent election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — followed that at 1:32 a.m. with a sarcastic question about Harris: “Will she go back to her job at McDonalds?”
Rep. Blake Moore folded Trump’s win into his own reelection thank-you post on X, at 12:29 a.m.: “With President Trump in the White House, and the U.S. Senate in Republican control, I can’t wait to keep fighting for Utahns in the First District.”
Gov. Spencer Cox, who won his reelection bid Tuesday, posted on X at 12:33 a.m.: “Congratulations to President Trump and Vice President-Elect Vance! We look forward to working with you over the next 4 years to solve problems and unleash American prosperity.”
Cox added that he was “grateful to VP Harris for her service to our nation and wish her the best.”
But not all Utahns were joyous about Trump returning to Washington.
“Today is a day to feel our losses, deeply,” Utah author and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams wrote Wednesday morning on X. “This is what it feels like to care and to love all that is vulnerable and at risk.”
Williams continued: “This, too, is what Democracy looks like — to believe, to enlist our courage with a sustained focus toward justice for all; to continue to do the work that is ours. It is never over. … This is not the end, nor the beginning, it is the truth of our lives. Our power lies in our capacity to keep loving and engaging with this beautiful, broken world. We can no longer look for leadership beyond ourselves. If we are present. we will know what to do.”
The popular “Radio From Hell” show on Salt Lake City radio station X96, whose hosts have regularly criticized Trump and Republicans, started their Wednesday broadcast with the Black Sabbath song “The Mob Rules.”
Co-host Gina Barberi said she went to bed Tuesday evening, and “I lay there awake and kept picking up my phone and thought, ‘maybe’” Harris could catch up. As the morning went on, she said, “I kept thinking, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Barberi’s co-host, Kerry Jackson, made a prediction: “You won’t recognize this country in about three years.”
This is a developing story.
