HARRISBURG — The 2024 presidential election formally closed Tuesday in Pennsylvania with the Republican Party’s 19 certified electors casting their respective ballots in the Electoral College for President-elect Donald J. Trump.
The official action, mirrored in statehouses across the U.S., precedes the scheduled joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 during which electoral votes cast for president and vice president are officially counted and winners declared.
Trump and his running mate, Vice President-elect JD Vance, will take the oath of office at noon on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Once sworn in, the 45th president of the United States will become the nation’s 47th president, just the second person to hold The White House in non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was elected the 22nd and 24th president in the late 19th century.
“President Trump is committed to being a president not just for his committed supporters but for all Americans, whether they cast their ballots for him or not,” Lawrence Tabas, the departing leader of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party, said.
“As President Ronald Reagan famously said, ’Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not to run their lives.’ President Donald J. Trump understands that and I am confident that he will make America great again for all Americans,” Tabas said.
The ceremony concluded an election cycle like none other. It was the first presidential election held post-pandemic and legal challenges that originated in the 2020 cycle over Pennsylvania’s no-excuse, mail-in voting continued.
Trump was nearly assassinated while delivering a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, where three attendees were also shot including one man who was killed. The anticipated rematch between Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden never materialized after the latter stepped down from his campaign amid concerns about his age and mental acuity.
Kamala Harris, Biden’s vice president, was selected as his replacement months after the primary election ended. She nearly chose Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her vice presidential nominee.
Meanwhile, Republicans on the ground worked feverishly to mobilize voters across Pennsylvania including in Democratic stronghold Philadelphia, pushed people to register to vote and even shift party, and made gains across the commonwealth.
The Trump-Vance ticket defeated Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz by 120,266 votes in Pennsylvania, securing the commonwealth’s 19 electoral votes. The Republicans ultimately won 312 electoral votes — 270 is the majority figure — and the nation’s popular vote.
Certified elector Carol “Lynne” Ryan of New Castle smiled broadly as she left the chamber floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives where the Electoral College was held. She called it an honor to serve in the role.
“I have a total feeling of joy, and all the hard work and effort that went into it, this is the cherry on top,” said Ryan, chair of the Lawrence County Republicans.
“Even Ronald Reagan didn’t win the county,” she said.
Fred Keller, former congressman and Pennsylvania legislator, held onto his elector certificate and name tag that he planned to share with his granddaughters.
“Being able to participate in an event that is as old as our republic is in itself very special,” Keller said. “When you look at getting here today, I think a lot of people in America realize that the policies that we experienced during the (first) Trump Administration were ones that put America and Americans first and made sure that we’re taking care of people. Like anything else, you can’t help anybody else if you’re not in good shape yourself. … America first, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro, who three times served as a presidential elector for the Democratic Party, was unable to attend the ceremony at the State Capitol.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced that inclement weather forced Shapiro’s plane to detour to Lancaster for landing — he had been traveling from Philadelphia — and couldn’t make it to the Capitol in Harrisburg for the hour-long event, which is required to begin at noon.
Schmidt was tasked to read Shapiro’s prepared remarks which touched on the history of elections in Pennsylvania and the U.S. He said the 19 electors of the 60th Electoral College joined the 1,635 electors before them who fulfilled their duties to the Electoral College beginning with the first U.S. presidential election in 1789.
Through wars and peace, economic changes and innovations, the development and redevelopment of the U.S., Pennsylvania’s members of the Electoral College cast their ballots for the presidency.
“It was here in our commonwealth that we declared our independence from a king and set ourselves on a path of self-determination. It was here that our founding fathers framed a constitution and set up institutions of self-government that continue to this day,” Schmidt said, reading Shapiro’s remarks.
“Now that this election is over, it is our collective responsibility to work together to make progress, to find ways to bring people back together and move the ball downfield to put points on the board for all of us,” Schmidt said, quoting Shapiro.
Shapiro wasn’t alone in having a stand-in. Tabas was elected by members of the Electoral College to fill in for elector Samuel “Jim” Worthington, whose wife was in labor. Tabas served as the college’s president while Patricia Poprick of Doylestown served as vice president and Robin Medeiros of Clarks Summit as secretary.