Emily Smith, Editor-in-Chief
Kylie Fields, Managing Editor
Donald Trump has been elected to serve as the 45th president of the United States of America.
Armstrong Democrats and Republicans alike found themselves on campus late Tuesday night for an election viewing party in the Memorial College Center food court. From the time MSNBC began seriously broadcasting live election coverage, the buzz in the food court was electric with nervous tension.
As the hours ticked by, the space became more and more cramped with students.
Historically, election results have been called at some point during the 11th hour. The last time a presidential election was called before 11p.m. was in 1996, when Bill Clinton was named victorious at 9p.m.
But Tuesday’s results were evident nearly four hours later than usual — around 3 a.m.– following a concession call from Hillary Clinton.
At the time of Secretary Clinton’s concession, CNN reported that Trump received 288 electoral votes to Clinton’s 215.
“She congratulated us on our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard campaign,” Trump said in his speech. “For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so we can unify our great country,”
The Georgia results were announced earlier in the evening and reflected Republican nominee Donald Trump as the majority at 51 percent (2,055,982 votes), Clinton at 46 percent (1,823,141 votes) and third party nominee Gary Johnson at 3 percent with only 123,874 votes.
This election has been starkly different than the past two, if not just for the fact that Trump will be the first new president to be elected in 8 years following two Obama terms.
As the night wore on at Armstrong, it was still relatively unclear where the results would lead. Clinton clinched California and Hawaii around 11 p.m. to cheers from the viewing party attendees. It seemed up until midnight that blue might just fill in enough empty pieces in what had been a predominantly red puzzle for the majority of the evening.
Trump quickly made a comeback after securing North Carolina minutes later, bumping him to 187 electoral votes and approaching Clinton’s 209.
Students were visibly disturbed when Trump overtook Clinton once more at 228 to her 209 not long after at 11:30 p.m. even with several states yet to be called. He would take Georgia and Florida minutes later.
Mood became increasingly bleak for democrats in attendance, as well as for the Clinton Campaign as the final results rolled in. Most students left the event by midnight, still hours before the final result was reported.
Back in 2014, Obama told George Stephanopoulos on This Week that he was not sure if he would be able to pass the presidency on to another democratic candidate because after about 8 years, “people want that new car smell.”
Trump supporters were jubilant in midtown Manhattan as the results finally broke. Vice President elect Mike Pence spoke first to the waiting crowd around 2:45 a.m., stating, “This is a historic night. The American people have spoken, and the American people have elected their new champion.”
