the day after donald trump scored a stunning come-from-behind win to gain the presidency, democrat hillary clinton and president barack obama separately called on the country to be open to the new leader and work toward a smooth transition. in her concession speech in new york around noon wednesday, mrs. clinton congratulated mr. trump and offered to work with him. she thanked her supporters and asked them to have an open mind about his presidency, saying, <u+201c>we must accept this result<u+201d> and look to the future. she added, <u+201c> this is painful, and it will be for a long time .<u+201d> mr. obama said he is rooting for the success of mr. trump, who he said struck a unifying tone in their conversation early wednesday morning. <u+201c>i hope that he maintains that spirit throughout this transition, and i certainly hope that<u+2019>s how his presidency has a chance to begin,<u+201d> mr. obama said. the associated press put wisconsin in mr. trump<u+2019>s column at 2:30 a.m. wednesday, putting the republican over the 270 electoral votes required to take the white house. mrs. clinton called mr. trump to concede soon thereafter. after running a bitterly divisive and partisan campaign , mr. trump struck a conciliatory tone in his speech to supporters in a new york ballroom. he praised mrs. clinton<u+2019>s public service, saying that the country owes her a debt of gratitude. <u+201c>now it is time for all americans to bind the wounds of division,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>it is time for us to come together as one united people.<u+201d> mr. trump also pledged to lift up those who have been left behind, saying, <u+201c>the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.<u+201d> house speaker paul ryan (r., wis.), whose support for mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign was tepid at best, praised the president-elect for hearing a message from the american people that no one else was hearing, during a news conference in janesville, wis., wednesday morning. <u+201c>donald trump will lead a unified republican government,<u+201d> he said, speaking to the fact republicans retained control of congress tuesday. the polls and political pundits gave mr. trump little chance of winning going into the final day of voting, but mr. trump scored a series of close wins in a number of crucial states that republican nominees haven<u+2019>t won since 2004, including florida and ohio . the win threatens to rattle u.s. equity markets and drove the mexican peso down sharply in overnight trading, foreshadowing what could be a shaky few days on wall street and elsewhere as the international financial world digests the reality of a trump presidency. mr. trump will bring to washington a highly unpredictable governing style and a raft of policy prescriptions<u+2014>from threatening to deport illegal immigrants to upending existing trade deals<u+2014>that are anathema even to many within his own party. the businessman and reality-television persona will become the first person to enter the white house without any prior political experience or military service. he rode a wave of anger, largely from white americans, and defeated mrs. clinton in a campaign that featured the nastiest and most personal attacks in modern american politics. in florida and elsewhere, mr. trump won by driving turnout in rural republican-heavy counties. he beat the gop high-water mark in the last four presidential elections in 41 of the state<u+2019>s 67 counties, according to steve schale, a florida democratic operative who was a senior official in both of president barack obama<u+2019>s campaigns. in wisconsin, mr. trump held a 22-percentage-point lead in brown county, a 89% white county that includes green bay. mr. obama won brown county in 2008 and in 2012 mitt romney carried it by less than 2 percentage points. mr. trump<u+2019>s victory in ohio comes after mrs. clinton brought a parade of celebrities to the state in an effort to boost her turnout in its urban centers. but mr. trump<u+2019>s popularity among the state<u+2019>s white voters, combined with mrs. clinton<u+2019>s weak turnout from african americans, meant a win for the republican in a state president barack obama won twice. mrs. clinton carried virginia, a state she was long expected to carry but a place where the results were narrower than expected. neither candidate visited virginia in the campaign<u+2019>s closing days, and mrs. clinton pulled her advertising from the state<u+2019>s airwaves for months before putting them back on in the final weeks. mrs. clinton so far hasn<u+2019>t carried a single state in which a republican senate candidate has won . she lost to mr. trump in wisconsin, where gop sen. ron johnson defeated democratic challenger russ feingold in a rematch of their 2010 contest. one certain election outcome is that mr. trump will face a deeply divided nation that may take a long time to heal. state and municipal authorities reported high voter turnout in cities and small towns across much of the country, with lines of up to an hour or more to vote in many places. early polls of voters found deep unease toward both candidates. a majority of voters said they found neither candidate to be honest or trustworthy. neither won approval from more than half of the country. at the same time, voters cast a more skeptical eye toward mr. trump, with a large majority of those polled saying they didn<u+2019>t think he had the temperament to be president. mr. trump won big among voters<u+2014>around a third or so of those polled<u+2014>who wanted the new president to bring change, but then lost by large margins among those who said they were looking for empathy, experience or judgment. about 130 million americans were expected to cast ballots this year in one of the most unpredictable campaigns in modern history, with the future of the presidency, supreme court and control of the u.s. senate hanging in the balance. some voters expressed disillusion about the low tone of the campaign. <u+201c>neither party deserves to be president,<u+201d> said shawntell simmons, a 28-year-old waitress, after reluctantly casting her vote for mrs. clinton in houston on tuesday. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want to be set back 50 years if i vote for trump,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want to have to go back to war if i vote for hillary.<u+201d> still, mr. trump appealed to voters unhappy with the current state of the country, who saw in him a washington outsider who could shake things up. <u+201c>i hate close elections like this,<u+201d> said tom kluczynski, a trump supporter who watched election returns in a san diego auditorium where voters had gathered. but mr. kluczynski, a 56-year-old from san diego who lost his job as an aerospace technician in july, said he was <u+201c>feeling more confident<u+201d> as election results rolled in. mr. trump <u+201c>is the come-from-behind kid.<u+201d> <u+2014>john r. emshwiller contributed to this article. write to reid j. epstein at reid.epstein@wsj.com , janet hook at janet.hook@wsj.com and colleen mccain nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com
with donald trump<u+2019>s win, clinton and obama call for smooth transition - wsj
reid j. epstein janet hook colleen mccain nelson