Trump victory elicits range of emotions among young voters

When Democrat Darcy Bowman awoke at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw the presidential election results — that former President Donald Trump had recaptured the White House — she couldn’t fall back asleep.

Republican Mike Chiarlone also was experiencing a range of emotions Tuesday night — until he learned about the results Wednesday morning.

Western Pennsylvanians in the young voter demographic — ages 20 to 25 — who spoke to TribLive before and after the election shared their hopes and fears heading into Trump’s second presidency. The Republican nominee easily outpaced Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, winning the popular vote and the Electoral College count.

“I was pretty upset,” said Bowman, 24, a registered Democrat from Bell Township in Westmoreland County who supported Harris. “I’m not really sure what’s going to happen.”

Fear of the unknown, of how Trump will preside during a second term, remains at the forefront of her thoughts.

Chiarlone, 25, of Pittsburgh’s South Side was keeping tabs on results from U.S. Sen.-elect Dave McCormick’s watch party. “It was outstanding,” he said. “It was a lot of nervous optimism.”

He initially believed the presidential election would be razor thin. He said he didn’t expect the race to be called so soon, especially in Pennsylvania.

“(I) was only planning to stay there about an hour, and then the results kept coming in,” he said. “That was pretty crazy that it happened.”

Not surprised

The verdict was no surprise to Avery Heller.

“I expected him to win before, and as the results were being counted, I was a little bit more confident that he’d end up the winner,” said Heller, 20, a Republican from Murrysville.

Heller gathered with a few of his friends Tuesday night and stayed up until Trump spoke at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, claiming victory. The Associated Press called the race about 5:30 a.m.

“I’m pretty hopeful. All throughout, I thought he was the better candidate,” Heller said. “I just hope he follows through with a lot of his promises.”

A trifecta of Republican control — the presidency, Senate and House of Representatives — could be a “beacon of change” for the party, Heller said.

Republicans already won the White House and the Senate; the fight for control of the House is ongoing.

“I think if they follow through on a lot of things, the country’s going to become a lot more conservative,” Heller said. “We’re going to see a big shift in politics.”

Heller said he is especially hopeful for Trump’s promises on no taxes on overtime pay, as he has been working plenty of overtime as a mail handler assistant for the Postal Service.

Heller tried to calm the fears of Democratic voters who are disappointed Harris lost.

“You’re not going to like his policies, but he’s a much better candidate for free speech and the economy, (which) will prove to be the biggest thing over time,” Heller said. “The country’s going to be just fine in four years.”

Chiarlone said he expected the possibility of an automatic recount for as close as the race was entering Election Day. He is still trying to figure out how Trump won.

“Obviously, there was a big impact that the young male voter had,” he said, also noting the impact of Black and Hispanic voters. He also pointed toward name-calling and rhetoric he has heard toward Republicans over the last four years.

Trump spoke on numerous “bro podcasts” leading to the election, Forbes reported, including “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the Barstool Sports podcast “Bussin’ with the Boys,” “Impaulsive” with Logan Paul and others.

“It touches a lot of people,” Chiarlone said of the popular podcasts. “That could’ve been an impact.”

Conversely, Harris made an appearance on Alex Cooper’s trendy “Call Her Daddy” podcast with the idea of also appealing to young voters, Politico reported.

‘No idea what went wrong’

Democrat Patrick Francis, 21, of Shadyside said he is experiencing existential dread to “the worst degree.”

“I stayed up all night, actually,” he said, referring to election night.

Francis said he was surprised by Trump’s victory. He thought Harris had run a good campaign.

“I still have no idea what went wrong,” he said. “I went into the election thinking that we probably were going to win in a close Electoral College count.

“Somehow, despite of it all, we lost in a landslide.”

The result — 295 Electoral College votes for Trump and 226 for Harris, not including Nevada or Arizona, where votes still are being counted — left Bowman in shock.

“I was trying to get my thoughts together,” she said. “Now that the shock has kind of worn off, it’s just kind of taking each thing as it comes.

“It’s not time to freak out just yet, I feel. Some of the things that have been said maybe won’t happen.”

She said she worries about Trump implementing a federal ban on abortion and deporting immigrants.

Francis attributed the loss, in part, to what he called a Democratic coalition collapse: The party lost key voting blocs that had supported former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden.

“Suburban trends toward the Democratic Party slid backwards,” Francis said.

He said the Trump victory signals that voters perhaps were more concerned about the economy than other issues.

“I think about the threat that Donald Trump poses to the country and the things that he plans to do — mass deportations, tariffs, Supreme Court justices, the gains in the Senate,” Francis said. “We’ll be back.”

A ‘hateful’ campaign

Cory Roma, 24, of Crafton said many people he knows are in shock, including himself.

“Despite knowing that this was going to be close either way, my brain somehow didn’t fully believe it,” he said.

One campaign was speaking about unity and trying to pave a new path forward for everyone, he said, while the other campaign was stoking division and going backward. Roma cited Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants.

“I thought — silly old me — people would be like, ‘I want to go with the unity candidate,’ ” Roma said, “but obviously that didn’t happen.

“The Harris campaign was long on vision but short on specifics. There wasn’t a clear plan that was rolled out, in my view, of what she would do if she had won.”

Democrats have “soul searching” to do, not just in Pennsylvania but across the country, he said.

“We need to, as a state party, figure out quickly what went down and try to fix it. Because if we don’t, we will lose all of the progress that we’ve made since 2016,” Roma said. “We’re all devastated, but I feel like in our devastation is also a renewal of our focus toward delivering victories and delivering actual change in the future.”

He said he’s concerned for those he knows who are undocumented immigrants, as well as for the economy and democracy itself.

“Trump has made it very clear that he is going to make good on his pledge of the biggest mass deportation that we’ve ever seen in this country,” Roma said. “This is a man who has attacked our democratic process time and time again.”

Roma, who lives with his husband, is concerned about fellow members of the queer community, especially if Republicans control the House alongside the Senate and executive branch.

“This was the most overtly racist, transphobic and hateful campaign I have seen in my lifetime, and somehow it worked,” Roma said. “Every one of my friends is having a mental health crisis — myself included.”

He cited his fear of possibly losing legislation like the Affordable Care Act, Inflation Reduction Act and the Respect for Marriage Act.

“All of these big monumental pieces of legislation will be on the chopping block,” Roma said. “If the house goes Republican, it’s like game over.”

Strength will have to be found in each other, he said, as the four years under Trump progress.

“We survived his first term, and if we work together and really put our energy and our focus into whatever it is that we need to do, we can survive again,” Roma said.

Despite the outcome, Bowman said it was exciting to see so many young voters show up at the polls.

“I hope for the best,” she said. “I hope Trump’s able to do a good job because, at the end of the day, we’re all Americans.”