"Game, set and match," billionaire Elon Musk said today as Republican Donald Trump was projected to defeat his Democrat rival Kamala Harris in the US Presidential elections.
The expression that Musk used on X, the social media platform he owns, is commonly used after a tennis match to indicate that a competitor has won.
In a separate post, he said the people of the US gave Trump a "crystal clear mandate for a change tonight".
Musk has backed Trump and said earlier today that he planned to spend election night with the former US president.
Musk, the world's richest man, has thrown his millions into backing the Republican presidential candidate since endorsing him in July. He has also reportedly donated at least $118 million to his political action committee, an organization that collects funds for elections.
Trump, 78, has pledged to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world" and to put Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste.
Donald Trump Extends Lead Over Kamala Harris
Donald Trump has won several strongholds, including Florida, while Kamala Harris has taken a number of eastern states. US networks have projected that Trump is winning 23 states and his 60-year-old rival 11.
He is also ahead in six out of seven swing states that hold the key to the White House. North Carolina has been called in favour of Trump and he is also ahead in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Leads are not yet in for the swing states of Nevada.
As for electoral college numbers, which will determine the winner in this election, the former President is ahead with 230 votes, while Harris trails with 187. Each candidate is aiming for the magic figure of 270 electoral college votes.
The 2024 US Presidential elections are historic because if Harris, the Indian-American who is the first female vice president, wins, she would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency.
On the other hand, if the US voters choose Trump, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, he would become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.
