Though Vice President Kamala Harris rapidly grabbed Massachusetts’ 11 electoral votes, greater than 35% of the reliably blue state’s voters solid their ballots for President-elect Donald Trump.
Greater than 80 of the state’s 351 cities and cities backed the Republican former president, with over a 3rd of these communities shifting pink for the reason that 2020 election.
In pink municipalities throughout a swath of Worcester County, many residents celebrated Trump’s victory Wednesday. Like their fellow supporters across the nation, a number of mentioned they voted out of a need for a slew of latest insurance policies, significantly on the economic system, immigration and U.S. involvement within the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Many mentioned Trump was clearer than Harris about his plans to handle these considerations.
In Leicester, a few half-dozen Trump supporters stood at a busy intersection waving flags and holding indicators that learn “Thank You Patriots” and “America is Again.”
“These 4 years when [Trump] was president, I do not learn about you, however for me and my household issues had been fairly good,” mentioned John Mcrae, 83, as passing motorists honked in help. He mentioned the economic system has been worse below Biden.
Mcrae added that the July 13 assassination try solidified his help for the previous president. As a veteran, he mentioned Trump confirmed braveness.
“That gained me over ceaselessly,” Mcrae mentioned. “That is what a rustic wants in these perilous occasions is a frontrunner who’s genuinely fearless.”
“… if he can get us again on monitor I do not care what he says and what he does.”
Diane Payne
In close by Spencer, a majority of the city’s voters additionally backed Trump. Resident Diane Payne, who’s in her 70s, acknowledged Trump has been mired in controversies and delivered nasty marketing campaign remarks — however mentioned she helps him anyway.
“I am a senior and I am retired, and I am working to pay for meals,” mentioned Payne, who works at a jewellery retailer on the town to assist pay her payments. “So if he can get us again on monitor, I do not care what he says and what he does.”
Tony Minga, proprietor of Spencer Pizza, mentioned he couldn’t help Harris as a result of he believes the nation’s economic system has suffered below Biden. Minga mentioned he wouldn’t have voted for president in any respect if Trump hadn’t run. He mentioned he hopes the president-elect won’t solely handle the economic system, but in addition take motion in opposition to unlawful immigration and alter U.S. involvement within the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
“The final years had been robust for everybody, a variety of struggling,” Minga mentioned. “Every little thing was going within the fallacious route, and we wanted one thing completely different.”
The economic system was additionally prime of thoughts for 78-year-old Ware resident Walter Lahair. A Vietnam veteran, he additionally mentioned he is disregarded a lot of the criticism of Trump and believes it has been distorted to discredit him.
Lahair added Harris was not a robust candidate as she’s a part of the Biden administration, which has overseen a time when many Individuals have paid larger costs for fundamental gadgets.
“When Trump was president gasoline was down, firms had been coming again and he was making an attempt to cease all these additional individuals from coming into the nation as an alternative of giving them every thing that Individuals ought to have,” Lahair mentioned. “He’ll take us out of this mess and straighten all of it out and make America prefer it was once.”
Lahair additionally believes Democrats have stopped talking to working-class voters and now focus extra on the wants of prosperous residents.
Phil Berling, 64, of Douglas, mentioned he was insulted by the way in which Harris was chosen because the Democratic nominee, with Biden asserting he’d drop out and placing his help behind her proper earlier than the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
“Don’t dump on working-class individuals is the message right here,” Berling mentioned. “They’re claiming, ‘Oh, Trump is a risk to democracy’ as they put in somebody that by no means received a vote to run for president.”
“It is laborious on this state to be a conservative and establish your self as somebody who does not cling to the identical perception system as 60% of the remainder of the state.”
John Mcrae
And Trump supporters reminiscent of Mcrae mentioned Tuesday’s election has energized extra conservative voters in largely Democratic Massachusetts. He mentioned his group plans to carry a much bigger celebration rally in Worcester County this weekend.
“It is laborious on this state to be a conservative and establish your self as somebody who does not cling to the identical perception system as 60% of the remainder of the state,” Mcrae mentioned.
It was a unique story in Middlesex County. Somerville, a Democratic stronghold often called a haven for artists and the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, voted overwhelmingly for Harris. The morning after the election, the temper in Davis Sq. was subdued.
Carmen Barnes, a 31-year-old Somerville resident, was sitting outdoors Diesel Cafe. When requested how she felt concerning the election outcomes, she requested if she might curse.
“I am simply permitting myself to be mad,” Barnes mentioned about Trump’s win. “I screamed somewhat bit earlier, and I am going to scream somewhat bit later.”
Down the road, Nina Stein, 33, sat on the curb together with her bike, ready for the farmers market to open. She described her response to Trump’s win as “bummed and incredulous.”
“I had an identical response the primary time,” Stein mentioned. “Like, I used to be serenely assured that folks couldn’t probably be this dumb to elect a palpably and demonstrably incompetent abusive loon.”
“One of many issues with Trump is it makes you’re feeling such as you’re not allowed to be completely different and persons are allowed to punish you for being completely different.”
Nina Stein
Stein is Jewish and just lately accomplished a Ph.D. in physics, a discipline with few different ladies. She calls Trump a “bigot,” and worries about what one other Trump presidency might imply for her.
“One of many good issues concerning the States is that you simply’re allowed to be completely different,” she mentioned. “One of many issues with Trump is it makes you’re feeling such as you’re not allowed to be completely different and persons are allowed to punish you for being completely different.”
Jerry Bloom, 71, of Wakefield, was manning the sales space for a neighborhood composting firm on the Davis Sq. Farmers Market. He mentioned he was “disenchanted” with the presidential election outcomes.
“I’m form of stunned [at] the result with the feminine vote and likewise the Hispanic vote,” Bloom mentioned, referring to Trump’s positive aspects with these voting blocs. “I additionally really feel like I used to be actually prepared for a change from the Trump rhetoric. I didn’t need to see that proceed.”
Bloom added he hasn’t been totally thrilled with Biden.
“I believe that the border wanted to have some brakes placed on sooner versus later,” he mentioned.
However the economic system, a prime concern for Trump voters, had not been a fear for him. Below Biden, he mentioned he “truly felt just like the economic system had made some important enhancements.”
“I believe all people’s making an attempt to take inventory and determine what the following steps are.”
Andrew Zamore
Somerville resident Andrew Zamore was buying on the farmers market together with his spouse. He was nonetheless processing the information.
“We’re simply shell-shocked and disenchanted and pissed off and indignant,” Zamore, 66, mentioned. “It looks as if nicely over half the nation is drawn to the cruelty and dysfunction and chaos and tumult that we all know is coming.”
The morning after the election, the couple was reeling from a nasty voicemail that they had acquired from an unknown quantity gloating about Trump’s win.
“I am nervous concerning the permission, now, to hold out on the form of unbridled cruelty that we have seen peeks of thus far, and which have been contained by a few of the higher voices and establishments that had been in place,” Zamore mentioned. “I believe these establishments are going to be dismantled, and I believe the voices that spoke in opposition to them are going to be afraid to.”
He wasn’t positive what comes subsequent for individuals who oppose Trump.
“I believe all people’s making an attempt to take inventory and determine what the following steps are,” Zamore mentioned. “It’s not like we’re getting a variety of steering from the individuals we have elected, who may present some management there, but.”
