Republican former President Donald Trump was leading Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in early vote tallies Tuesday though key battleground states remained undecided in the tight presidential race that left Bay Area Democrats grim-faced and Republicans buoyant.
A Harris campaign spokesman said late Tuesday that with many votes still to count, Harris would wait to address her supporters until Wednesday. After election experts called battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina for Trump, he was expected to speak to reporters later in the evening.
If Trump’s narrow lead over Harris in other battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin holds, it could propel him to a return to the White House that seemed unfathomable to many four years ago after his second impeachment for inciting a mob to attack the Capitol and block certification of his loss to President Joe Biden.
Across the Democrat-dominated Bay Area, where Harris grew up and spent her career as a prosecutor and California politician, hardy groups of Republicans welcomed the early returns where Trump was dominating the Southern states and making headway across the north.
“I expect a landslide,” said Liz Ritchie at a GOP watch party in Pleasant Hill. “There are enough people saying, ‘what happened to my country in the last four years?’ that they want Trump back as our president.”
For Harris’s oldest friends from the Bay Area, who supported her campaigns for San Francisco District Attorney, state Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Vice President, the possibility of a Trump win was bewildering.
“I never understood why she had to fight so hard in this race, with the opponent she’s up against,” said Amelia Ashley-Ward, editor of the Sun-Reporter, San Francisco’s oldest Black newspaper. “You look at Kamala’s resume. What are we doing here? Why are we going back, when she’s trying to take us forward?”
If she won, Harris, 60, would be the first woman president and the first of South Asian heritage in U.S. history. Trump, 78, would be the first in more than a century to win again after losing re-election.
The choice has polarized the country for months and led to anxiety among voters — especially Bay Area Democrats watching early returns.
“The American people are not stupid, they’ve caught on to criminals coming here illegally, open borders, the inflation rate,” said Adam Baker, an entrepreneur at a GOP watch party. “They talk about how Trump is all for the rich. But it’s been proven the last four years, the people who are for the rich are Democrats.”
Democrat Jim Gold, hosting an Election Night watch party at his San Jose home, and fearful that Trump might win, said early Tuesday, “We’re going to have alcohol, gummies and a little cyanide, just in case.”
Mary Piscitelli, Rossmoor Republican Club treasurer, center celebrates with Liz Ritchie, of Knightsen, left, and Rico Ramirez, of Concord, as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is projected to win North Carolina during the Contra Costa County GOP Election Watch Party at the Back Forty Texas BBQ Roadhouse & Saloon in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Tuesday, …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
