Donald Trump makes history as the first hotelier elected president

His upset win over Hillary Clinton makes history. Down-ballot Republicans benefit from his strong showing throughout the country.

Donald J. Trump made history at 2:30 AM Eastern Time last night when he was declared the winner in the presidential race. He was the first hotel owner as a major party nominee, and now will be the first hotelier to occupy the White House.

Here's Trump's victory speech from 3 AM last night:

Or, if you want just the highlights, here:

We hope his victory inspires more hotel owners and small business entrepreneurs to step up and run for elected office in the future. We need more hoteliers as lawmakers.

AAHOA also wished Hillary Clinton well in her future endeavors. Her candidacy was also history-making as the first woman to be a major-party nominee.

On Trump's coattails rode a wave of Republicans to Congress. Senate Republicans won two out of the four most hotly contested races. The remaining Republican incumbents all won reelection easily, including Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Sen. Roy Blunt celebrates his victory in Missouri.

This means Sen. Mitch McConnell (R, Kentucky) will stay on as Majority Leader in the Senate. His final majority will likely be 52 seats (down from 54).

House Republicans, led by Speaker Paul D. Ryan, lost just a handful of seats overall and will maintain the majority. Their net defeats nationwide, once projected to be near 20 seats, was limited to just six (with some races still too close to call).

Speaker Paul Ryan addresses supporters at his victory party in Wisconsin.

The dust is still settling on many races around the country, including races that AAHOA PAC supported a candidate. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the results moving forward.

-Chip

Chip Rogers

President & CEO

AAHOA

Donald Trump's victory - and his coattails - wasn't seen coming by most pundits.


Donald Trump defied expectations from the media and political class.

Politico: How did everyone get it so wrong?

Everybody was wrong. Again.

When Election Day dawned, almost all the pollsters, analytics nerds and political insiders in the country had Hillary Clinton waltzing into the White House.

By the time polls had closed nationwide on Tuesday night, those projections had been left in shambles - just like the ones a year ago that all-but ruled out the possibility of Donald Trump winning the Republican Party's presidential nomination.