--- title: Donald Trump Says He Will Accept Election Results if He Wins description: Trump doubled down on his incendiary statement that raised the prospect of breaking with bedrock traditions of American democracy canonical: https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T17:20:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:01.058Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says He Will Accept the Election Results — if He Wins og:description: Trump has repeatedly decried the election as "rigged." There is no evidence to support his assertion og:url: https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae6f1afa2be8bd1/6988aafb0a4a2277619cbbdc/trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5203 og:image:height: 2927 og:image:alt: Campaign 2016 Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says He Will Accept the Election Results — if He Wins twitter:description: Trump has repeatedly decried the election as "rigged." There is no evidence to support his assertion twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae6f1afa2be8bd1/6988aafb0a4a2277619cbbdc/trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says He Will Accept the Election Results — if He Wins > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch Presidential Concession Speeches Throughout The Years [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Presidential Concession Speeches Throughout The Years](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VV1HSTf2.m3u8) (2:48)  _Published 2016-10-20. Watch a compilation of presidential nominees, from Richard Nixon to Hillary Clinton, conceding to their opponents._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 20, 2016 5:20 PM UTC  Donald Trump looks out to the audience during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, on Oct. 19, 2016. Donald Trump looks out to the audience during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, on Oct. 19, 2016.John Locher—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 20, 2016 5:20 PM UTC Donald Trump said Thursday he would accept the outcome of the presidential election — if he wins. And he said he might contest the results if they don’t go his way, doubling down on [his incendiary statement during Wednesday night’s debate](http://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/) that [raised the prospect of breaking with bedrock traditions of American democracy](http://time.com/4538015/presidential-debate-donald-trump-election/?xid=homepage). “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win,” Trump said at a rally in Delaware, Ohio, reiterating his statement at Wednesday night’s debate that he will keep the nation “in suspense” about whether he would gracefully concede the election in the event of the loss polls indicate is coming his way. Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called his remarks Wednesday “horrifying,” and [Trump came in for widespread condemnation](http://fortune.com/2016/10/19/donald-trump-presidential-debate-rigged-election-reaction/) across the political spectrum. “That was sort of an unprecedented question. If Al Gore or George Bush had agreed three weeks before the election and waived their right to a challenge or a recount, there would be no Supreme Court case,” Trump argued Thursday. “In effect, I’m being asked to waive centuries of legal precedent designed to protect the voters.” In reality, debate moderator Chris Wallace [mentioned nothing about legal rights](http://time.com/4535247/presidential-debate-final-transcript/), asking instead about America’s tradition of “peaceful transition of power” and “that the loser concedes to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?” Trump has repeatedly decried the election as “rigged.” [There is no evidence to support his assertion](http://time.com/4535364/donald-trump-rigged-election-fact-check/). TIME’s David Von Drehle also explains why the comparison to Al Gore doesn’t hold up. “This infinitesimal gap \[in Florida\] triggered an automatic recount. In other words, there was no ‘result on election day,'” [he writes](http://time.com/4538450/donald-trump-al-gore-2000-rigged/). “Florida law — not Al Gore — sent the game into overtime. And those same Florida election laws allowed for candidates in such a close contest to challenge the tally, which Gore understandably did … But at each crucial decision point, both camps appealed to the procedures set out in the U.S. Constitution and in relevant Florida election law. They sought the high ground in public opinion, not the low conspiratorial swamps.” Still, in Ohio the day after the debate, Trump dangled the possibility of asking for a recount himself. “Of course I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal in the case of a questionable result,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “And always I will follow and abide by all of the rules and traditions of all of the many candidates who have come before me.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Will Accept the Election Results — if He Wins","datePublished":"2016-10-20T17:20:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:01.058Z","description":"Trump has repeatedly decried the election as \"rigged.\" There is no evidence to support his assertion","url":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae6f1afa2be8bd1/6988aafb0a4a2277619cbbdc/trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae6f1afa2be8bd1/6988aafb0a4a2277619cbbdc/trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Campaign 2016 Debate","caption":"Campaign 2016 Debate","creditText":"John Locher—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Will Accept the Election Results — if He Wins"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Presidential Concession Speeches Throughout The Years","description":"Watch a compilation of presidential nominees, from Richard Nixon to Hillary Clinton, conceding to their opponents.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VV1HSTf2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-20T19:56:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VV1HSTf2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/","duration":"PT2M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4538855/donald-trump-election-results-recount/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```