Democrat Watch Party Turns Emotional at Pigskin
< < Back to democrat-watch-party-turns-emotional-at-pigskinBy: Megan Vanselow
Pigskin on Court Street held a watch party for the Democratic party including OUDems, Students for Hillary and the 94th district State Representative candidate Sarah Grace and her supporters. Around 8 p.m. several students from OUDems and Students for Hillary started to gather in the back of Pigskin and watch as numbers came in to CNN. The larger the crowd got, the louder their cheers when good news was announced about the Hillary campaign.
Early in the evening, Rob Portman was announced the winner of the Senate race in Ohio. Many Democratic supporters in Pigskin expressed their disappointment with the results. A member of OUDems said he thought Ted Strickland ran a hard campaign and had a lot of odds stacked against him. He also stressed that he was in no means disappointed in Strickland’s campaign efforts.
News that didn’t go the Democrat’s way was only the beginning of the roller coaster ride they were on all evening. As the results came out, state by state, supporters cheered collectively specifically for Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois, all won by Hillary, early in the night.
Later in the night, when Jay Edwards won over Sarah Grace in the 94th district State Representatives race, a lot of her adult supporters left Pigskin, but a lot of students were still tuned in to CNN. A fellow for Ohio Together, Maddie Yee, said the state was looking more red than they anticipated.
“At the end of the day, everyone from Ohio is going to be represented by who they voted for.” Yee said.
It wasn’t long after when Donald Trump was declared the winner of Ohio. Students crying, getting up to buy another drink at the bar, and boos filled the bar. A lot of Clinton supporters told us that the Ohio result was important to them because it is where they live and where they voted. A lot of them thought they could make a difference and have things go their way.
As the night went on, the roller coaster continued its ups and downs as the crowd saw several more swing states – such as Florida and North Carolina, turn red in favor of Trump. The Clinton supporters became more emotional; they began to hang their heads, and the sadness turned to anxiety.
One patron was so anxious that she backed out of an interview we had scheduled. She agreed before the Ohio race was called and said she was too distraught by the results.
Despite the misery, one Ohio Graduate was very calm and not at all worried. He made a map predicting the result of each state and said everything was on track so far. He didn’t think losing Ohio was going to matter for Clinton and still had a lot of hope.
Tune into WOUB in the coming days, for continuous election recaps and reaction coverage.