Election’s a Wrap: A Reporter’s Notebook
Conversations with Dems and Reps About Xenophobia and Inexperience
Just before midnight on Tuesday, Democratic Party leaders found it sardonically amusing that they had worried the chosen election night venue, The Mill on Haley Street, would be too crowded to accommodate the wild party they optimistically anticipated. But the mood there was bleak as a dwindling crowd of several dozen trickled out of the open-air courtyard as the night dragged on.
For the Democratic candidates who prevailed — Salud Carbajal (House of Representatives), Monique Limón (State Assembly), Hannah-Beth Jackson (State Senate) — the night was bittersweet. They were just beginning to process the implications of a Donald Trump administration.
Wearing a form fitting, off-white pantsuit — “in solidarity with women everywhere” — Limón remained optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party. “Look what we did locally,” she said. Others wore a sadder expression on their faces.
