Mood darkens at Democratic parties as Trump gains key states

Supporters at an election night event for US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at Howard University in Washington – Copyright AFP ANGELA WEISS

Marion Thibaut with Anuj Chopra in Atlanta

The mood at US election watch parties shifted significantly as results began to show a swing towards Donald Trump in a number of key states early Wednesday.

With networks calling North Carolina and Georgia — two of seven swing states — for the Republican candidate, Kamala Harris’s path to victory appeared to be narrowing.

“I am scared, I am anxious now,” Charlyn Anderson told AFP as she left Harris’s election night HQ at Howard University in Washington.

“We won’t give up until it’s done but I’m scared.”

Others expressed bafflement, as news filtered in that Harris would not address the crowd during the night.

“He’s a terrible candidate, so it just doesn’t make sense,” said Ken Brown, a former student, of Trump’s successes so far.

“I don’t know who’s voting for him.”

In Pennsylvania, perhaps the most significant of all the swing states, Democrats at a watch party in the western county of Erie were despondent.

“I’m just pissed off,” said Lynn Johnson, 65, as she watched cable news channels.

“It doesn’t look good for Harris.

“It’s going to be dangerous if he wins. I don’t feel safe.”

What started as a raucous watch party at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, with balloons and beer, sobered up around midnight.

Organizers switched off TV screens and asked people to exit the ballroom. 

While insisting “it’s not over yet”, one of them offered a piece of parting advice: Don’t turn on your television tonight.

In Las Vegas, Democrat Pablo Pleitez said he was worried for his fellow Latinos.

“So far we are losing… many of the Latino community that are good people… they won’t have anyone, they will be affected with Trump’s decisions,” he said.

– ‘Path to win’ –

On the other side of the political aisle, things were looking up, with Republicans in Michigan jubilant.

“Tonight is going to be a tremendous vindication for us once the election is called for president Trump,” Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, told AFP from a watch party in Dearborn.

“It will be a clear mandate for him and against the policies of the Biden-Harris administration.”

Nigel Mahabir, a 48-year-old psychiatrist supporting Trump from Lansing, Michigan, told AFP he was “cautiously optimistic”, even “hopeful” of a Trump win.

There was no such reticence at a convention center in West Palm Beach, Trump’s election night HQ.

Giant screens showed Trump doing his signature arm shuffle “YMCA” by the Village People, as supporters laughed and joked, increasingly confident of a victory for their candidate.

“I feel like Trump has won this election,” Moses Abraham, 22, told AFP.

“This is over, and I feel like the world’s about to be much greater.”

Abraham was one of hundreds of people gathered at the watch party, hoping that their candidate would be making an appearance later in the evening to deliver a victory speech.

An evening that had started off tensely, with attendees eagerly watching large screens showing rolling network coverage of incoming results, devolved into a party.

“This is like 2016. I feel that we are on the same path to win,” said Jo Ann Poly Calvo.

“I feel very optimistic about tonight. Donald Trump is the perfect fit for America.”

burs-hg/amz/rsc