Hillary Clinton concedes to President-Elect Donald Trump

American voters have chosen Donald Trump -- whose name has become virtually synonymous with racism and sexual assault -- as their next president.

The real estate developer and former reality TV star won a confounding Election Day victory over Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady, U.S. senator and Secretary of State.

Trump, who opened his unlikely White House bid by slurring Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, dragged political norms and the voting populace even deeper into the muck before emerging with the 270 electoral votes he needed.

Minority turnout failed to match 2012 totals, and the Republican presidential nominee picked up much stronger than expected turnout from rural, mostly white, voters.

Voters were willing to overlook concerns about Trump's temperament, which caused his own advisors to take away his Twitter privileges in the days ahead of the election, and more than a dozen women who accused him of sexual assault and misconduct.

Trump will enter the White House with Republican majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, where GOP lawmakers have refused to consider President Barack Obama's nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court.