As the night went on, many states remained ‘too close to call’. (Image: Getty)
In a dimly lit bar in eastern Philadelphia, we were anxiously watching as the votes rolled in and TV statisticians tried to read the electoral tea leaves. The Express joined Democrat campaigners in the historically blue city as they waited to discover whether their state, the key battleground Pennsylvania, would swing red or blue.
When we arrived at Ruba Club at around 8pm, the venue was packed with hopeful activists who had supported Kamala Harris’s race, and journalists from across the globe.
The MSNBC commentary playing on a large screen showed that the earliest results favoured Donald Trump as small, rural areas with typically stronger Republican support reported their tallies ahead of cities.
That was to be expected. However, it soon became clear that Trump, 78, was performing better than the Democrats would have liked in many locations – and Harris’s White House dream was in serious jeopardy.
Fuelled by free pizza, we were in for a long night haunted by four frustrating words: “Too close to call.”
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Voters in Pennsylvania queued before polls opened at 7am on Tuesday. (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Jazmine Smith had come to watch the results unfold with a friend. She said: “I’m nervous. I think everybody in this country, no matter what side you’re sitting on, probably has the same sentiment.”
The 46-year-old said she voted for Harris, 60, because she has a wealth of political knowledge and can bring together those on all sides of difficult debates.
If Trump claimed victory, Jasmine said it would be like a repeat of the 2000 US election, when Republican George Bush defeated Al Gore by landing 271 electoral votes—just one more than the 270 required to win the Electoral College.
But she also feared that if Trump lost, the country could see unrest fuelled by his frequent allegations of voter fraud. Jazmine added: “It wouldn’t be surprising for him to come up with different scenarios that would then provoke his base to do something that would be catastrophic to what we’re all here to do.
“I’m very concerned because of what happened last time on January 6. It felt like we were in a movie; time stood still.
“That fear and trauma is something that doesn’t go away because we never really addressed it as a country. We just kind of swept it under the rug and kept going.”
At around 9pm, a cheer went up as early results for Pennsylvania showed Harris in the lead with 64% of the vote. But with only 16% of ballots counted so far, there was still all to play for.
By 10 p.m., the mood was growing tense. The New York Times needle graphic predicted an 83% chance of a Trump victory as his electoral vote count steadily ticked up.
Dentist Betsy Tweddale, 47, remained defiantly hopeful. She said: “I refuse to be worried. I can’t wrap my brain about a Trump win right now, I simply can’t.
“I think it’s too early. We don’t know [the result in] Pennsylvania yet. I truly think Pennsylvania will make a difference, and Philly will kill it.
“I’m not ready to accept a Trump win. He wants to be a dictator, he wants to strip away everyone’s rights, he’s a liar. He’s the devil, I hate nobody on Earth but I hate Donald Trump.”
Betsy conceded that even if Harris found a route to victory through the blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, many Americans had cast their votes for Trump.
She added: “What’s wrong with them? It’s crazy and wildly disappointing. But we’re not there yet. I still have a lot of hope.”
Shortly before 11pm, Philadelphia’s Mayor Cherelle Parker arrived to address the nervous crowd. On Monday, she delivered a speech in support of Harris at the candidate’s spectacular final rally.
Declaring that “Philadelphia has spoken” in this election, Ms Parker swiftly dismissed allegations of voter fraud in her city and state.
She said: “An overwhelming number of voters have gone to the polls today in Philadelphia to express their voice and our democracy. For the record, Philadelphia has conducted this election freely, fairly and securely, as we always knew we would.
“Despite some fraudulent claims on social media, even including one from Donald Trump himself, this election was conducted without major incidents in Philadelphia.”
She thanked the staff still working into the night on the election count and added: “It won’t stop until we’ve counted every ballot.”
As social media armchair experts rushed to reassure one another that Trump’s early lead had not yet sounded a death knell for Harris’s presidential ambitions, one supporter whispered, “I’m trying to remain calm.”
After watching a few more minutes of nail-biting but ultimately futile TV expert analysis, it became clear that no result would be declared before midnight. It was, after all, too close to call.
