The Associated Press projected former President Donald Trump as the president-elect alongside Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as vice president-elect at 4:34 a.m. CDT on Nov. 6. Trump ran against Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively.
Trump secured 50.7% of the popular vote and 295 electoral votes, while Harris secured 47.7% of the popular vote and 226 electoral votes.
Campus watch parties
On Nov. 5, Residential Colleges hosted a viewing party at Commons Center for students to watch the vote counts for the 2024 presidential election be announced on CNN. Director of first-year experience Natalee Erb expressed excitement for the watch party.
“[It is] where we will share in the experience of watching the results of this campaign season unfold as we sit in community with one another,” Erb said.
Erb explained her belief in the importance of hosting watch parties for students.
“Within the residential college system, we strive to cultivate spaces where people learn from and with each other every day by engaging in conversation, even when they disagree,” Erb said. “In fact, this is the theme of this year’s Campus Reading, ‘I Never Thought of It That Way’ by Mónica Guzmán.”
Sophomore Brinnan Smith attended the watch party and said he appreciated the passion he saw from students during this election cycle.
“I really enjoy seeing so many people involved and invested in our country,” Smith said. “I grew up in Missouri and then moved to Portland, so I have enjoyed experiencing different political climates, perspectives and opinions.”
Vanderbilt College Republicans, Vanderbilt College Democrats and Women in Government held similar watch parties on election night. VCR and VCD hosted two debates this semester leading up to the election, including one on Nov. 4. VCR President Noah Jenkins spoke on behalf of the organization, expressing enthusiasm to see Trump return to the White House.
“Their landslide victory is reflective of the fact that Americans are sick and tired of the woke and out-of-touch vision President Biden and Vice President Harris have for America and instead want a strong leader who can fix our immigration nightmare and the economy, as well as reestablish America’s place as a leader on the world stage,” Jenkins said. “We wish President Trump and his team the best.”
VCD did not immediately respond to The Hustler’s request for comment.
Community reactions
According to The New York Times, it has been decades since the polls indicated such a close presidential race across key swing states in both the Sun Belt and the Rust Belt. The final national NBC News poll of the 2024 presidential campaign showed Harris receiving support from 49% of registered voters, with Trump getting an identical 49%, and just 2% of voters claimed to be unsure. At the time of publication, AP News showed that the Republican Party would likely control the Senate while the House of Representatives remained uncalled.
First-year Aaron Bullions expressed frustration with the results of the election.
“Of the three presidential elections I have followed in my life, this was the one that I most expected a Democrat victory, yet that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Bullions said. “It seems as though America is still not ready for a woman, especially a woman of color, to be president — something that leaves me feeling nothing but disappointment with our country.”
Truman Hill, also a first-year, said the results were unexpected.
“I’m surprised,” Hill said. “I’m going to give him [Trump] the benefit of the doubt, and we’ll see what happens.”
Senior Zack Maaieh said he believes the election outcome — which he said he views as a loss — “falls on” the Democratic Party.
“They [Democrats] spent the campaign courting Republicans to vote for Kamala, but they already had a candidate to vote for,” Maaieh said. “In the process, they lost the excitement people had to vote for a progressive candidate and broke the coalition they had built in 2020.”
Sophomore Sam Bodwell was unsurprised by Trump’s win. He thinks the administration will bring “lower inflation and business growth” to the country.
John Geer, political science professor and an instructor for the U.S. Elections class, shared his thoughts on the projection of the election results by news media.
“There will be countless interpretations of why Donald Trump won. It is way too early to know the exact reasons. The news media usually jump to hasty conclusions,” Geer said in an email to The Hustler. “What we do know is that a majority of the public decided to return Trump to office. We should and need to respect the outcome — that is the democratic way.”
