Shock and Grief Replace Happy Mood at Dems’ Party

By Leigh Waldman and Violeta Trevizo

The excitement was palpable Tuesday night at the Reagor-Dykes Auto Group headquarters as the Lubbock County Democrats occupied the space for their watch party of the presidential election.

As it was announced around 7:30 p.m. that Texas, a traditionally Republican state, was split almost down the middle with Hillary Clinton in a slight lead over Donald Trump, the room erupted in cheers.

Pilar Vega, a Latina Democrat who has lived in Texas her whole life, said it meant a lot to her to see Texas split down the middle.

“It goes to show you that, you know, change can happen anytime, anywhere,” she said. “Like, I’m physically tense because the implications of this are sweeping.”

The Texas split shows people are opening their eyes and becoming more accepting of other peoples’ lifestyles and views, she said.

Later, when the Associated Press announced Texas had gone red, Aaron Morales, a Texas Tech student attending the watch party, said he was disappointed.

“It would have been nice to see Texas to have gone blue,” Morales said. “It would be nice to kind of see a little bit of change. There’s a lot of change in couple different states so we could see them go either way right now.”

County Commissioner Gilbert Flores said he did not expect the election would be that close.

“Frankly speaking, I thought she was going to just kick some butt, but it’s getting to be a lot closer than we thought,” he said.

Jalaina Douglas, a sophomore at Texas Tech and a first-time voter, said that she was excited to be a part of such a historic election.

“One of the main issues for me this election is specifically race relations because I’m black, and Donald Trumps offensive rhetoric is– I’m not here for it,” Douglas said.  She added that Trump’s comments about “stop-and-frisk” and other policies regarding people of color are unacceptable.

But her vote for Hillary Clinton isn’t something she had to think about simply based on issues of race, Douglas said.

Bobby Lee, 66, a lifetime Democrat and a retired Navy man, said he was originally a Bernie Sanders’ supporter, but when Sanders endorsed Clinton, she got his vote as well.

“I’m trying not to have anxiety, but I think in the end she will win.”

Lee said he was proud of everything Sanders did for the party and the issues he believed in. He expressed confidence that Clinton would keep her promises to fight for the causes Sanders was passionate about.

“I’m proud of both of them,” Lee said. “Tonight, I’m really rooting for Hillary.”

With the Trump in the lead over Clinton at 9:24 p.m., Lee said he was staying calm. He believed Clinton would pull through.

“I’m trying not to have anxiety, but I think in the end she will win,” he said. “I feel pretty confident. I’m a pretty jolly fellow.”

By 10:37 p.m., Donald Trump had broken 200 electoral votes.

Although the live band continued to play at Reagor-Dykes Auto Group, the energy that Lubbock County Democrats had in the beginning of the night had begun to fall.

Will Hatfield, a second-time voter, expressed a growing anxiety as the election night progressed, with Donald Trump at 232 electoral votes and Hillary Clinton trailing with 209, according to CNN at the time.

Democrats watch election results come in at the Lubbock Democrat watch party on Nov. 8 2016.

Democrats watch election results come in at the Lubbock Democrat watch party on Nov. 8 2016.

“Like, I’m physically tense because the implications of this are sweeping,” Hatfield said. “He’s using libel laws to destroy freedom of the press. We are talking about a guy who says we should bomb civilians. That scares me. That’s the kind of stuff Russia does, not us.”

Hatfield also expressed a fear that if Trump becomes president and the Republicans control the Senate, he someday would not be able to marry the person he loves because he is a gay man.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Hatfield said.

At 11:26 p.m., Bobby Lee said his hope was fading.

“I don’t understand how women are going to survive in a Trump world,” Lee said. “I don’t know how all kinds of ethnic people are going to survive in a Trump world. I don’t know how gay people are going to survive in a Trump world, so I’m disheartened but I still have hope.”

As November 8th drew to a close, the Lubbock County Democrats began to filter out of the event.

As Hillary Clinton won Nevada, the 20-plus people still there whistled and cheered.

According to The New York Times, Trump had over 95 percent chance of winning at that point. But the last people at this watch party continued to hold onto that 5 percent sliver of hope.

At 1:51 a.m., Clinton reportedly called Trump to concede. At the time of publication, no official concession speech was scheduled.

At roughly 2:17 a.m., Donald Trump took the stage and pledged to be the president for all Americans, reported CNN.com.

Meanwhile, Democrats like Debbie Robles are preparing for the next election.

“This is just the beginning — the Latinos came out in full force,” Robles said. “We have a lot more there that haven’t registered. That’s going to be our next project for the upcoming elections in the next couple of years.”

About JOUR 4350

JOUR 4350 is the multiplatform news delivery class, which is the capstone class for journalism majors within the College of Media & Communication.