As students, faculty and staff gathered to watch the election results in the Chase Hall Lounge, the mood was probably similar to other college campuses of Bates’ ilk, with many expecting the historical news of the first female president-elect.
But the end of a bruising campaign that saw its share of unprecedented moments, election night delivered one more surprise.
Emily Bowen '19 of Pasadena, Calif., Afia Sekyere ’19 of Tampa, Fla., and Mickai Mercer ’19 of Philadelphia, Pa., cheer for a positive blue state projection. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Tessa Holtzman '17 of Las Cruces, N.M., Zoe Seaman-Grant '17 of Charleston, S.C., Arianna Fano '19 of Lincolnshire, Ill., Matthew Davis '19 of Chicago, Ill., and Daniel Basuk '19 of New York City react to early east coast results. (Josh Kuckens/Bates College)
Students swarm freshly delivered pizza in Chase Hall as the early election results come in. (Josh Kuckens/Bates College)
Kayla Jackson '19 of Metuchen, New Jersey, who found the results of her first presidential election as a voter "heartbreaking." (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Michael Stone '17 of Litchfield, N.H. and Honor Moshay '17 of Los Angeles, Calif pore over results in the Bobcat Den with Associate Professor of Rhetoric Stephanie Kelley-Romano. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Arianna Fano ’19 of Lincolnshire, Ill., and classmate Zoe Seaman-Grant ’17 of Charleston, S.C., had spent the entire day encouraging fellow students to vote. “One of my favorite things about Bates is how politically active it is, and that’s why I came here,” Fano said around 10:30 p.m. “It’s nice to come together as a community and watch the results…even if it doesn’t go well.”
As early results came in around 8:00 p.m., there was nervous optimism. Cheers accompanied the projections for New York, Massachusetts, and the great state of Maine, but the “too close to call” reports from swing states and lopsided red state wins were met with groans or silence.
Associate professor of Politics John Baughman and Tim Kaplowitz ’20 of New York City attempted to relive some of the tension. “After today, we won’t have Nate Silver to make us crazy anymore,” Kaplowitz said.
By midnight, as the outcome became more apparent, the nervous optimism had fully transitioned to dejection and disbelief for students like Kayla Jackson ’19 of Metuchen, N.J., who found the results of her first presidential election as a voter “heartbreaking.”
