Palm Beach, Florida - Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, major networks reported, as he defeated Kamala Harris in a stunning political comeback that will send shock waves across the world.

The Republican's victory, following one of the most hostile campaigns in modern US history, was all the more remarkable given an unprecedented criminal conviction, a near-miss assassination attempt, and warnings from a former chief of staff that he is a fascist.

"It's a political victory that our country has never seen before," Trump told a victory party in Florida.

Polls pointed to a nail-bitingly close contest, but the results came surprisingly fast, delivering a crushing victory that included wins in the swing states of Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

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Trump is the first president in more than a century to win a non-consecutive second term, following in the footsteps of Grover Cleveland.

He is also the only person to be elected as a convicted felon – he will face sentencing in a New York court for fraud on November 26.

Already 78, Trump is on course to break another record as the oldest-ever sitting president during his four-year term. He will surpass Biden, who is set to step down in January at the age of 82.

Trump campaigned on tax cuts, less regulation, and the most significant increase in import tariffs in nearly a century to promote growth and boost manufacturing, despite warnings of trade wars and higher prices for US consumers.

But radical foreign policy shifts are set to have enormous consequences abroad. He has repeatedly suggested he would end the conflict in Ukraine by pressuring Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Russia, while also egging on Israel to "finish the job" in its genocidal war on Gaza.

Most of Trump's rallies were dominated by violent and racist language, with threat of mass deportations of immigrants often veered into fascist imagery.

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At his victory speech, the Republican struck a more measured tone, balancing a promise to "seal up those borders" with a concession that "we're going to have to let people come into our country."

"We want people to come back in, but we have to, we have to let them come back in, but they have to come in legally," he said.