Donald Trump’s narrow victory in Florida became one of a series of big-state wins that propelled him to the presidency.The president-elect addressed for 15 minutes a crowd of supporters in New York, and the nation on television, shortly before 3am Wednesday.He said he’d received a congratulations call from Hillary Clinton, and he was gracious toward her. ‘I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard fought campaign,’ Trump said.‘Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a very major debt of gratitude for her service to our country, and I mean that very seriously.’Trump said it was time for the nation ‘to come together as one united people.‘I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me,’ he said.‘For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.’In addition to Florida, Trump also won crucial big state victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio, pushing him to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.Clinton carried Colorado and Virginia, but lost a slew of states Democrats had expected to win.Going into Election Day, and early Tuesday evening, many Clinton supporters were confident. ‘Our first woman president,’ said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach. ‘I can’t even hardly explain the joy.’The Democratic mood changed as vote tallies from state after state went in the Trump column.‘I’m nervous,’ U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said from New York shortly before midnight. ‘I’m on edge.’Republican Trump had 49.1 percent of the vote in Florida to Democrat Clinton’s 47.7 percent with just a handful of precincts uncounted late Tuesday.Neither the Trump nor Clinton camps saw a path for the Republican to win the presidency without winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes.Trump, who spends lots of time at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and frequently told Florida audiences that he considers the state a second home, held many large rallies in the state - most of which drew thousands of enthusiastic supporters.‘The people of Florida have spoken and they have chosen a new way forward and rejected the status quo,’ Blaise Ingoglia, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said in a statement.‘They have said no to big government and corruption, and yes to restoring America’s greatness at home and abroad.’Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta appeared at the Democrat’s Election Night event at 2 am. ‘I know you’ve been here a long time, and it’s been a long night and it’s been a long campaign. But I can say we can wait a little longer, can’t we?’ he said, announcing that Clinton wouldn’t be making any statements. ‘They’re still counting votes and every vote should count.’Florida has a history of exceedingly close elections, and as Election Day approached, pundits and public opinion polls labeled the state too close to call.The contest was so close most of the evening that news organizations didn’t declare a winner even when results were in from 99 percent of the state’s precincts.Clinton, a fixture in American politics for decades, was hoping to become the first woman to serve as commander in chief.She faced stiff competition from Trump, the billionaire businessman who tapped into a searing strain of economic populism.As early voting wrapped up over the weekend in Florida, Democrats began expressing increasing confidence after seeing heavy turnout among early voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and among Hispanic voters.But Clinton’s massive investment of time, deployment of hundreds of staffers, and spending of millions more on TV ads in Florida than any other state fell short.‘Her margins in the urban areas are basically records. His margins in exurban areas are basically records. It is a pretty crazy map here,’ Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale wrote on Twitter.In South Florida, Clinton was a big winner. The three biggest counties in the state, all Democratic strongholds, delivered big numbers for Clinton. Combined, Clinton won the the three South Florida counties by 670,000 votes over Trump.Miami-Dade County gave Clinton a much bigger margin than President Barack Obama in 2012. In Broward, she was slightly ahead of Obama’s number in 2012.In Palm Beach County, the Democratic advantage was less than it was in 2012.Without a massive showing from South Florida, no Democrat has any hope of overcoming more Republican areas and wining a statewide election in Florida.Wasserman Schultz said Democrats increased their performance, compared with 2008 and 2012, in key Florida counties. But, she said, Republicans increased their performance. ‘They made up the difference,’ she said. ‘We had a surge and they had a surge too.’In the final two weeks of the campaign, Clinton was a constant presence in South Florida. On seven different days, she held major rallies, talked to targeted groups of African-American, Hispanic, Haitian-American and gay voters, visited early voting sites and campaign offices, and appeared at a concert with singer Jennifer Lopez.She also repeatedly brought in her husband, former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama (twice in the closing days of the campaign) and Vice President Joe Biden to campaign on her behalf.Along with her running mate, Tim Kaine, they visited multiple other Florida communities.Many voters said they were disgusted by the presidential choices with which they were presented. NBC News reported that exit polling in Florida showed both were unpopular.Half of Florida voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of Clinton, NBC News said, with almost 60 percent viewing Trump unfavorably.‘Unfortunately, neither one of them is any good. This is kind of one of those situations where either one is going to be bad, unfortunately, but it’s the lesser of two evils,’ said Pam Sutton, 44. The Boca Raton resident voted for Trump.She doesn’t like some of the things Trump has said or done but believes Clinton isn’t trustworthy. ‘At least [Trump] fesses up. She’s still denying everything when there’s proof, obvious proof of the things she’s done and I think people still are blind,’ she said.Maxine Dorsette, 47, a college English teacher from Davie who is a no party affiliation/independent voter, said Clinton is ‘disgustingly corrupt’ and ‘Trump is nuts.’ She voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson.Brian Kuszmar of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea said he, too, voted for Johnson.‘I couldn’t vote for Trump or Hillary. Even if there was no Libertarian, I couldn’t go for either candidate,’ he said, adding that he thinks both have serious issues. ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. These are two flawed candidates. We’re screwed either way.’Some people who voted for Clinton did so grudgingly.‘I’m not a huge fan of Trump. Everything. I think he’s a racist, I think he’s a bigot, amongst other things I’m sure. It was more the lesser of two evils,’ said Jonathan Silverstein, a Weston Democrat.He decided to vote for Clinton a month ago, ‘after the debate performance. Trump doesn’t keep his mouth shut. And he has no answers to any questions.’Melanie Miguel, a no party affiliation/independent voter, said she voted for Clinton ‘because I am petrified of a Trump presidency. I begrudgingly voted for Hillary.’Miguel, a 21-year-old chef who is Cuban-American said she didn’t like that Clinton is ‘a life-long politician, the fact that she has flip-flopped on every issue.’Miguel said she is a sexual assault survivor, and the comments from Trump about women ‘hit close to home for me. That was one where I turned off social media and the news and couldn’t stand to watch anymore. That was the tipping point, was the groping scandal. I knew I was never going to vote for him.’Clinton had many enthusiastic supporters in South Florida.‘She’s highly qualified. I’m a 30-year military veteran, U.S. Air Force. Her experience, she’s extremely experienced. Her knowledge on just about every issue, the military, global issues, she’s just very knowledgeable in all those areas,’ said Rod Byrd, 50, a commercial pilot.He said he knew he wouldn’t vote for Trump at the moment the Republican candidate said he was ‘gonna teach all the generals stuff. Having said things like that, without even ever one day putting on a pair of combat boots.’The father of two daughters also said he was concerned about the reports of Trump groping women. ‘I was raised a Christian and have the ultimate respect for women. Having said some of the things he says is kind of disturbing,’ he said.Jean Gabriel, 32, of Weston, said Clinton ‘looks like a president, more mature than Trump, he acts like a little kid sometimes,’ Gabriel said.Some Clinton votes came from Republicans and some Trump votes came from Democrats.Robert and Corraine Amlotte of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea are both independent-leaning Republicans who voted for Clinton.‘All I’ve got to say is ‘Donald Trump.’ His persona, there’s no way I’d want him representing our country,’ Robert Amlotte said. ‘She’s been around the government, so she knows how the system works. If she’s crooked, she’s one of many. But at least she knows how to do the job.’Republican Elizabeth Robinson, 80, of Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday was the first time she’s ever voted for a Democrat.She said Clinton is experienced. And she said she didn’t like the comment Trump made early in the campaign suggesting U.S. Sen. John McCain, who was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war, wasn’t a war hero. ‘I like people that weren’t captured, okay?’Jeff Roberson, a Davie Democrat, said he voted for Trump. ‘I don’t like Hillary, the way she does things. ... I think she’s crooked.’He has some reservations about Trump, and only decided in the last few days who would get his vote. ‘He just runs off at the mouth. I think Donald speaks his mind. Yeah, he says stupid stuff. But you absolutely know where he stands on things.’Miramar Democrat Maria Erdberg, 52, said she’d been going back and forth and decided Tuesday morning to vote for Trump.‘I actually voted Republican. It was hard, it was very, very hard,’ the teacher said. ‘It’s the first time I voted Republican.’Jared Hagedorn, 19, of Davie, voted for Trump without hesitation.‘I do believe he is a strong leader and he is intelligent. A lot of people do say he failed and he did have a couple things fail. But you have to fail to succeed. No one has ever succeeded at 100 percent,’ Hagedorn said. ‘I was with Trump the whole time.’Source: theguardian