DONALD TRUMP IS projected to win the US presidential election, returning to the White House four years after he was defeated as an incumbent in 2020.

Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris is assured after he was projected to win the state of Wisconsin this morning, bringing the Republican to 276 electoral college votes and past the 270 required to be elected president.

The Republican’s expected victory looked likely from early during election night, as his vote increased from four years ago and made him the early favourite in all of the seven swing states. 

North Carolina was the first swing state to be projected for Trump, meaning Harris’s hopes rested on a sweep of the ‘Blue Wall’ states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Georgia and Pennsylvania have since also broken for Trump. 

The Associated Press and US broadcasters issued their projections shortly after 10.30am Irish time. 

His win represents one of the most unlikely turnarounds in political history after he was twice impeached during his four-year term in the White House, the second of which followed a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol Building after he had whipped up a mob in Washington DC. 

A vote in the Republican majority Senate, however, acquitted him of the charge of incitement of insurrection. 

In the years since, Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime after he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Despite his legal travails, Trump remained the most powerful figure in Republican politics since leaving office, buttressed by huge personal support among his ‘MAGA’ base. 

His run to the White House this year gathered momentum as polls showed widespread dissatisfaction with the leadership of President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump four years ago. 

Cratering personal approval ratings for Biden and a belief among most Americans that the country is ‘on the wrong track’ boosted Trump’s chances of a return.

As this momentum grew, Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in July while he was campaigning in Pennsylvania. Several shots were fired towards the former US president before he was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents while bleeding from his ear.

Less than two weeks after the shooting, President Biden suspended his re-election campaign and threw his support behind his Vice President, setting Harris up for her contest with Trump. 

Harris did not address her supporters as they gathered at Howard University in Washington DC last night, with her campaign telling the crowd she would make a speech later today. 

Trump’s victory makes him only the second president in the history of the United States to be elected in non-consecutive terms, following on from Grover Cleveland who won general elections in 1884 and 1892. 

Under the US constitution, presidents are not permitted to serve for more than two terms.

You can follow the day’s developments in the US in our liveblog here. 

- With reporting by Daragh Brophy