Supporters celebrate win downtown
The streets of downtown Orlando were flooded with the cacophony of honking car horns, music and chants from supporters of President-elect Joe Biden following projections of his election victory in Pennsylvania and Nevada on Saturday.
Scores of supporters took to Lake Eola Park on Rosalind Avenue, waving campaign banners and rainbow flags, in what was part political rally and part parranda after Puerto Rican musicians arrived with dozens of others from the other end of the park.
Along with celebrating President Donald Trump’s defeat, supporters were also highlighting the election of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who made history as the first female and first Black and Asian vice
president in U.S. history. But organizers and activists said their work is far from over.
“We are going to celebrate … but this is also a celebration for accountability, because now this is where the work begins,” Chevalier Lovett, managing director of Organize Florida, said to the crowd over a megaphone. “Biden is in the White House because of us, and now it’s time for him to work for us.”
From the park, supporters marched to Orlando City Hall, chanting Biden and Harris’ names while dancing to the music of performers who led the march. Onlookers and drivers blocked by police escorts applauded and honked their horns in celebration with the marchers as they made their way along Orange Avenue.
One supporter, Sue Ellen Doty, said she became emotional while watching CNN project victory for Biden in Pennsylvania and Nevada. She then woke up her husband and opened a bottle of Cava to “make a toast for the country.”
“I was crying for myself, for my country and the world,” Doty said. “I just
feel like it gave me a sense of hope.”
The celebrations in the city and elsewhere around the country come after days of uncertainty as battleground states in the Rust Belt became unexpectedly competitive and others like Georgia began trending away from Trump, particularly in Atlanta and other urban centers.
Some media outlets called Pennsylvania for Biden as early as Friday, but the Associated Press — often the go-to organization for calling election races — called the race on Saturdaymorning, with cable news stations and other agencies following suit. Nevada was called for Biden shortly after.
In Georgia, votes are still being counted, with the former vice president having a 9,160-vote advantage, mostly thanks to mail-in ballots in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
But the close margins in those states and other worried Doty, a 73-year-old former schoolteacher who said she had never seen the country so divided and believes “Uncle Joe” willw ork toward bridging that gap between political camps.
For Carol Morrison, a Jamaican immigrant who listened to speakers at Orlando City Hall, the election was a source of anxiety. She had struggled to sleep in the last few days while waiting for the results, and with police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic at the forefront of national conversation, that anxiety only worsened.
“As a Black person, a mother and grandmother, every time I see police lights or see an officer stopping someone, I’m worried if it’s someone like my son,” she said. “It keeps me up at night.”
At city hall, speakers from various progressive organizations touted the victory as one pivotal to pushing through progressive demands like raising the minimum wage and addressing mass incarceration.
It’s also seen as a blueprint for races in Florida, where Trump won with about 51% of the vote, thanks to areas outside the state’s major cities and significant gains in counties like Miami-Dade.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, has been one of the most vocal critics of the Florida Democratic Party in recent days, targeting what she said was poor outreach to Hispanic and working class communities and not siding with popular progressive policies like the $15 minimum wage, which was approved via referendum.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Florida didn’t bring this home for us,” said Eskamani, who is included in some circles as a possible Democratic challenger to Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. “… I’m not going to point fingers, but Florida Dems have been losing for far too long.”
She added, “We owe this W to Black women in Georgia, to Latinx folks in Nevada and Arizona.”
Morrison listened attentively to each speaker, the skin around her eyes crinkling as if smiling behind her mask. She said the outcome of the election gave her renewed hope of moving on from a president she felt does not value Black or immigrant lives, but also the historic nature of Harris’ vice presidency.
“This moment is what I live for,” Morrison said. “It’s not just about a woman. That’s good, but I’m extremely ecstatic to have a Blackwoman in office.”
But for her, and other supporters in attendance, amid continued concerns about COVID-19 and President Trump who has yet to concede defeat in the race, the battle is far fromover.