The climax of an already remarkable campaign season ended with the biggest shock of modern politics. By rewriting the standards of politics and completely defying poll after poll, Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States. He defeated the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in a classic election night filled with all forms of unexpectedness.

If the election were decided by the popular vote, Hillary Clinton would have won. However, the presidency is determined by the electoral college. The magic number is 270 electoral votes. Going into election day, media reported a very steep path for Donald Trump as he was involved in numerous scandals and controversies that shook his political campaign.

As the night unfolded, it was becoming clearer and clearer that Trump had a viable path to the White House. The markets responded to this by significantly plunging. The mood at Hillary’s headquarters in NYC transformed from optimism and confidence to pure darkness. Trump won the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. He also won Wisconsin, which typically leans Democrat. Clinton won her home state of New York, along with Virginia, Colorado, and Nevada. See the full electoral college map at Politico.

Donald Trump will work with a Republican House of Representatives and a Republican Senate. If you are curious, you can learn more about the details of the House of Representatives and Senate races at Ballotpedia. With the win, the transition period begins for Donald Trump. Trump has to unite a divided nation. He will have to deal with many important issues in his presidency, like the Supreme Court nominees and terrorism.

No matter how you may feel about the outcome, it is very important to understand that the election is an exemplification of the democratic process at work. The American people have a great privilege in choosing their leader every four years. This is not shared by every other country in the world. The differences are still prevalent in America after the election; however, Donald Trump in his victory speech, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton in her concession speech, all called for a unification of the nation.

Whitman students expressed their varying views on the entire 2016 election season. However, many students agree that the election result was a shock to them and the election season was unfortunately filled with a lot of negativity.

A student who wants to remain anonymous thinks that this election “was very different from the previous ones due to the candidates.” The major political party candidates, Trump and Hillary, both had controversies and turbulence in their long campaign season.

Andrew Borges, a Whitman sophomore, compares the election to “Brexit.” He also believes his future is probably going to be drastically changed due to this election.

Kevin McKenna, a Whitman 10th grader, did not expect the outcome of this election, even calling it the “biggest upset of all time.”

Kentaro Matsushima, a Whitman junior, believes that this election was “more publicized” than previous years. He also added that the election seemed like a long reality show.

The election’s effects will certainly be felt for a long, long period.