The day after Donald J. Trump's election to a second term as US president, observers wondered what it suggested about the American electorate.

The New York Times, in a headline at the top of its website on Wednesday, framed Trump's election as a "populist revolt against an elite vision of the US".

"In her closing rally on the Ellipse last week, Kamala Harris scorned Donald J. Trump as an outlier who did not represent America," wrote Peter Baker. "That is not who we are," she declared.

"In fact, it turns out, that may be exactly who we are,"he wrote. "At least most of us."

Baker wrote that "the assumption that Mr. Trump represented an anomaly who would at last be consigned to the ash heap of history was washed away on Tuesday night by a red current that swept through battleground states — and swept away the understanding of America long nurtured by its ruling elite of both parties".

Vice-President Harris, in her concession speech Wednesday at her alma mater Howard University in Washington DC, said: "While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign. The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people."

Harris said she congratulated Trump and said that the Biden administration would "engage in a peaceful transition of power".

As of Wednesday, Trump had 295 electoral votes, 25 more than the 270 needed, and Harris had 226, the Times reported.

Republicans took control of the 100-member Senate from Democrats on Tuesday by securing 52 seats.

In the 435-member House of Representatives, currently controlled by Republicans, they had 204 seats vs 187 for the Democrats, but there were more than 40 seats yet to be decided as of Wednesday. Control of the House will be critical for Trump's agenda and whether he faces any intense opposition.

The election Tuesday also was a repudiation of "the old breed of Republicans who made common cause with corporations and harbored a neoconservative foreign policy", wrote Philip Wegmann for RealClear Politics.

He said "the most visible among them", was former Republican US representative Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney of the George W. Bush administration. Liz Cheney campaigned with Harris.

"To Mr. Trump's allies, the election vindicates his argument that Washington has grown out of touch, that America is a country weary of overseas wars, excessive immigration and ‘woke' political correctness," Baker wrote.

Trump told his victory party in Florida early Wednesday that his coalition was drawn "from all quarters — union, non-union, African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Arab American".

Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, detailed a shift in voter preference based on income: "Staggering class realignment/shift in working class. Harris lost DESPITE major shift of affluent voters her way.

2020: Trump wins voters over $100K, 54-52

2024: *Harris* wins voters over $100K, 54-45

2020: Biden wins voters $50K-$100K, 57-42

2024: *Trump* w/ voters $50K-$100K, 49-47

2020: Biden wins voters under $50K, 55-45

2024: Trump massive improvement w/ voters under $50K, 49-48."

Lanny Davis, who served as White House special counsel to former president Bill Clinton, wrote that the Democrats had some soul-searching to do.

"So now, after a sleepless night, here is my morning-after self-truth-telling," he wrote on RealClear Politics. "It's time we liberal Democrats faced up to the truth: We have become the party of intolerance and shaming, and a lot of ordinary Americans who once reliably voted Democratic and shared our Franklin Roosevelt-era liberalism that viewed government as a force for good now look at us as out-of-touch elites. And worse, as controlling scolds."

In 2016, Trump won the White House but lost in the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. In the 2024 election so far, he has received about 5 million more votes than Harris. Trump had 72,234,670 votes around 7:30 pm ET Wednesday, to 67,468,223 votes for the vice-president, according to the Times.

Clinton's winning of the popular vote in 2016 sparked a call from some Democrats to abolish the Electoral College, which was enshrined in the US Constitution as a way to prevent a handful of highly populous states from having outsize influence over presidential elections.

Trump said at his victory party early Wednesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr, former presidential candidate and critic of the COVID-19 vaccines, will be tapped to "help make America healthy again", adding that "we're going to let him go do it".

Kennedy, a scion of a dynastic Democratic family, who changed his allegiance to Trump after the Democratic National Committee thwarted his bid for the party's nomination, has pledged to address what he calls "regulatory capture" by the pharmaceutical industry of agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Kennedy also has railed against ingredients in processed food that are banned in other countries but allowed in the United States.

But Trump joked about not letting Kennedy, a longtime environmentalist, have a say on energy policy: "Bobby, stay away from the liquid gold (oil). We have more liquid gold than any country in the world. Other than that, go have a good time, Bobby."

Trump also has considered Kennedy's recommendation to end the use of fluoride in the US water supply.

Trump also has pledged to make Elon Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and a vocal supporter of the Trump campaign, a secretary of federal "cost-cutting". Musk has said he can trim trillions of dollars in government spending.

The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to assemble his team before Inauguration Day, Jan 20.

One key item on the to-do list: filling around 4,000 government positions with political appointees, people specifically picked for their jobs by Trump's team.

That includes everyone from the secretary of state and other heads of Cabinet departments to those selected to serve part time on boards and commissions. Around 1,200 of those presidential appointments require Senate confirmation, which should be easier with the Senate now in Republican control.

Trump's transition is being led primarily by friends and family, including Kennedy and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, as well as the president-elect's adult sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and his running mate, JD Vance.

At the start of his first term, Trump assembled a Cabinet that featured some more mainstream Republicans and business leaders who ultimately disappointed or broke publicly with him.

This time around, Trump has said he would value loyalty as much as possible, a philosophy that may ensure he makes picks more aligned to his ideology.

To prevent any delays in future transitions, the Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 mandates that the process begin five days after the election — even if the winner is still in dispute.

Agencies contributed to this story.