Disparate moods at Trump and Harris election night events

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Former President Trump’s supporters who gathered at his election night watch party were hugging one another, making calls, jumping up and down, and throwing their MAGA hats in the air. They celebrated as results continued to trickle in, showing him leading in the presidential race.

“We’re going to make America better than it’s ever been,” Trump said it a rambling speech at the convention center in West Palm Beach, Fla., frequently diverging from prepared remarks.

He praised his wife and children, running mate JD Vance, his late mother-in-law, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump has said Kennedy will play a role when it comes to health policy but has not specified what that would be. Kennedy, who launched his own presidential bid as an independent before dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, joined him at several rallies in the last stretch of the campaign.

“He’s going to make America healthy again,” Trump said of Kennedy, who is vaccine skeptic.

“He wants to do some things and we’re going to let him go to it,” Trump added.

Before Trump arrived at his watch party, a Trump campaign spokesperson weighed in mockingly on the falling mood at the event Vice President Kamala Harris had planned at Howard University in Washington, D.C. “Sounds like the joy has left the building,” Karoline Leavitt posted on X.

Echoes of 2016 in Harris’ 2024 election night

Forgive Democrats if they are having a bit of déjà vu.

There were noticeable similarities between then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s election night in 2016 and Tuesday’s Harris event.

Neither Clinton nor Harris appeared at their election night party, despite both heading into election day believing they were about to defeat Donald Trump.

Both sent top aides to inform the demoralized audience that the candidate would not speak. And there were noticeable similarities between what each man said.

“We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted,” Cedric Richmond, Harris’ campaign co-chair, told the audience Tuesday. “So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow.”

“We’re still counting votes,” John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, said in 2016. “And every vote should count. Several states are too close to call. So we’re not going to have anything more to say tonight.”

Even the mood of the events — and the trajectory they took over the course of the night — was similar.

The vibe at Clinton’s event at Javits Center in New York started jubilantly, with people dancing, smiling and eager to make history — the campaign had even planned to launch reflective confetti in the air when Clinton won to resemble a glass ceiling shattering. The same was true for Harris, with the event resembling a dance party on the campus of the Democrat’s alma mater.

But the mood at Harris’ event party shifted from electric to anxious as race calls began rolling in. The musical performances and triumphant speeches on display earlier in the evening were replaced by occasional DJ mixes and broadcast race calls.

Anxious faces and hushed talk spread through the crowd as the night stretched on and the tightness of the race became apparent.

By the time Podesta and Richmond had taken the stage, the party had stopped, people had left, and those who remained looked forlorn.