Election night for me started in South Austin. I was at Trudy’s, there to report on a second election victory for District 2’s Delia Garza. She’s my council member (I live in the district), and I was proud to endorse her in this paper; to vote for her in this election; and to congratulate her Tuesday on her victory. “I’m very honored to be given this privilege once again,” she told me. “So we can continue pushing this progressive policy and do all that we can do to keep middle-class families here in Austin.”
It was raining by 7:30pm. I ran to my car and drove Downtown to the Driskill. Travis County Dems were there hosting a watch party for the election, and when I arrived there was a line of people extending out the hotel’s side door onto Brazos Street. This city is so blue; so proud to wear it, to push its establishment toward the moral side of our history. I watched the line. I checked into Twitter sometime around 8:30pm. The presidential election was not going as anyone expected.
It was pouring by the time I got home, turned on the TV, and watched our country get upended.
Like a lot of Americans, I didn’t sleep much Tuesday night, maybe three hours altogether. My girlfriend, our dog, and I collectively tossed and turned all night. In the morning I saw that Donald Trump had won the presidency; Hillary Clinton, the presumed favorite, the most qualified candidate in the history of the position, had called her opponent to concede.
I took a shower and made some breakfast. The dog and I went out for our morning walk. It was cold and dreary in South Austin, in a way the weather hasn’t been since late last winter. A few houses down, a neighbor, an elderly black lady, was getting out of her car and angling toward her door. I thought to say “Good morning,” but then thought better of it. Wednesday was no good morning at all.
This article appears in November 11 • 2016.