WASHINGTON – Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States on Wednesday returning to the White House after four years, something only Grover Cleveland had done before.
Trump surpassed the needed 270 electoral college votes with a projected win in Wisconsin that AP called at 5:34 a.m. eastern time.
Like Cleveland who was the 22nd and 24th President, Trump will be the 45th and 47th President. Trump won all 77 counties in Oklahoma. All of the state’s counties in Oklahoma have voted for the Republican candidate for the past 24 years.
At Vice President Kamala Harris’ Howard University watch party, the celebration began with exciting energy and a sense of hope. Attendees said they believed the race would be close, but momentum was in Harris’ favor.
“You can see the energy here. When the music is on, this group, this campaign has a lot of great energy behind it,” Paul Litchfield from Connecticut said. “I’m very hopeful.”
Litchfield assumed the momentum Harris’ campaign had built up through closing arguments would help carry them to victory.
“I think she had a really strong closing to this race, besides the one Biden comment that threw things off a bit, there were no Liz Cheney comments, there were no comments like the way he (Trump) was talking about the press, there were no crude gestures with the microphone,” Litchfield said. “She’s been closing very consistently and I think she’s had a really great message.”
In the days leading up to election night, Trump called Cheney a “deranged person” in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Kii Arens, who created and sold posters at Harris events to raise over $100,000 for the campaign, said the energy was jubilant and positive.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be really exciting,” a Howard University employee said.
Howard University students said the opportunity for a president who is an alum of their school was surreal.
“You wouldn’t ever expect something to come out of your school like this,” said Howard student Trinity Allen. “It’s just something crazy and a once-in-a-lifetime chance. It’s just beautiful to see.”
As results rolled in and Trump began to build a lead, the jubilant atmosphere evaporated and anxiety began to simmer.
Once Iowa was called in favor of Trump at 10:40 p.m. eastern time, the anxiety became palpable. The silence was deafening immediately after CNN projected Iowa for Trump. There was music and excitement throughout the night but it was quickly cut off. The crowd became anxious and began losing hope.
“Everybody’s anxious, I think people were anxious before they got here,” said Melanie Williams, who canvassed for Harris in Pennsylvania. “We’re all tired and we’re ready for the whole thing to be over.”
Jeremy, who did not want to provide a last name, said a Trump victory would make things look “bleak.”
“We did not come to campus, I’m an alum, I did not come to campus to cry and be sad,” Dinah Brade said. “It’s going to be solemn on campus.”
By midnight, droves of attendees were leaving the watch party disheartened by the results.
Early in the night, some began to speculate that America might not be ready for a female President.
“It’s really a close race, I’m not too sure if America is ready, at first I thought Kamala was going to win for sure because women wouldn’t give up their reproductive rights, or things of that nature,” said Christopher McCollin, a Howard dental student. “But as you know we live in a patriarchal society. And as I got here and I’m looking at it I don’t know if America is ready for this.”
When asked about the prospect of defeat, McCollin said people need to focus on love and the reason why “we’re put here on earth.”
Harris supporters said despite the defeat, there are still political battles to win.
“Rejection is just redirection, we still have to fight for our local offices, we still have to fight for the rest of the seats in Congress,” Allen said. “We’ll pick ourselves up and continue to fight for our rights.”
As results continued to roll in late into the night, and the outlook began to worsen, the Harris campaign announced that she would not speak at the election night event at Howard. After the announcement, a crowd that was already thinning almost entirely dispersed.
Watching the election results come in from Florida, Trump spoke early Wednesday morning and declared victory before the Associated Press had officially called the race.
In his speech, he also made several presumptive claims. He claimed he had won the popular vote, which had not yet been fully counted. He also claimed Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives but several key races remain too close to call.
The Washington Post reported that Harris would call Trump to concede on Wednesday afternoon. Harris is expected to address the nation at 4 p.m. eastern time.
Kevin Eagleson is reporting from Gaylord News’ Washington bureau this fall as part of an OU Daily scholarship.
Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net
