Donald Trump won with 290 electoral votes while Hillary Clinton had 232 electoral votes as reported by Politico on Nov 16. The remaining state is Michigan, but regardless Donald Trump has been declared the winner and Hillary Clinton has given her concession speech.
All through election night, a group of Trump supporters huddled around a single laptop diligently watching as the results rolled in during the D3TV election party. First year, Eric Boylan, said that he had a lot of faith that Trump would win. “He taps into what people are looking for and how they’ve been deceived by the left,” Boylan said. “He has no political record, and no record is better than a bad record I think.”
After midnight, victory for Trump became more and more likely eventually surpassing a 95 percent likelihood that he would win according to the New York Times. With the prediction, the group of students started smiling and joking. “I’m pretty happy,” said first year Caleb O’Brien. “I’ll be honest, I might cry tonight.”
Just one table over, sophomore Bri Douglas sat quietly watching the TV screen with a disappointed look on her face. “I’m terrified right now,” she said.
Douglas found the results surprising because she remembered talking in class about the possibilities of Trump winning, and they seemed slim. “I think a lot of people on campus will be very disappointed,” she said. “We’re obviously a very liberal school.”
The night began with laughter and casual conversations at the D3TV party in the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media. Students voted in an online form entitled, “DePauw Picks the President,” ate free pizza, and listened to music in the lobby decorated with red and blue streamers and star-shaped balloons.
However, as the race continued, morale lowered significantly. Many students seemed visibly worried as they sat gazing at the screens of their phones, computers and the large TV that showcased election coverage on four different channels at once. The race was close.
When asked how she was feeling, senior Lizzy Gering said, “I don’t think I can put my feelings into words right now.”
President of DePauw’s College Republicans, sophomore Anna Cron, was also anxious. “I’m excited about Ohio, but still nervous about Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan,” she said.
As of 9:15 p.m. Professor of Political Science, Bruce Stinebrickner, said there were no big presidential bombshells yet, but he was surprised by the Indiana senate and gubernatorial races.
Republican Todd Young won the senate seat over Democrat Evan Bayh. “It’s quite surprising that Young beat Bayh so quickly,” said Stinebrickner. “In this race, it seemed like Bayh was the real favorite, but Young is up by 12 percentage points.” Young’s victory doesn’t help the Democratic Party’s attempt to take control of the senate. Stinebrickner said the loss was definitely a setback but not a death sentence for the party.
Stinebrickner was also shocked by Republican Eric Holcomb’s victory over Democrat John Gregg for governor. “I thought it would be more 50/50 but that Gregg would be the favorite,” he said. Holcomb won by eight percentage points. “That’s a surprise,” Stinebrickner said. “Ouch for the Democrats.”
Professor of political science, Darby Morrisroe, believed Trump had a tougher path to winning the election.
“For Donald Trump to win he will have to win Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and New Hampshire,” Morrisroe said in her voting analysis forum at 10:00 p.m… “If he loses one of these, it will be near impossible for him to win.”
The race took a major turn when Trump pulled out three of those victories in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, but he still needed other victories to pull off the upset. More than an hour later, Trump took Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes
“I wasn’t really that surprised,” said junior Drew Anderson. “There’s a silent majority. Trump got a lot of people to vote who don’t normally vote.”
