Tense wait for expats
Expats have called the win bitter-sweet, with the close result highlighting a divided nation. By Laura Wiltshire.
AS Joe Biden inched closer to the White House, American expats living in New Zealand feel the US presidential election – and the previous term – have left their country more divided than ever.
Dr Danny Osborne grew up in Yosemite, a conservative area of California, but moved to New Zealand in 2011. He applied for citizenship the day after Donald Trump won the presidency.
He had watched the election closely, but a Biden victory would not be enough for him to go back to the States.
‘‘It’s been quite a stressful leadup to everything. About a month ago it looked like Biden was about 16 points ahead in the polls, and then watching that margin shrink week after week going into the election.
Osborne was relieved the past four years were nearly all over, but he also felt a profound sense of disappointment that the election was so close.
Biden had a tough path ahead, repairing the divided country, and the Republicans in the
House and the Senate had a role helping repair the wounds Trump had exposed, he said. ‘‘In that sensemaybe Biden is the right person for this because he is a rather moderate Democrat. We are going to need someone who can bridge that aisle between the left and the right.’’
He felt the first issue that needed to be tackled was coronavirus.
‘‘Unfortunately I think it is also going to be te most divisive thing he has to do.’’
For Genice Paullay-Beazley, vice-chair of Democrats Abroad New Zealand (Danz), the election had been a lot longer than the past nail-biting week, and would not endwhen one of the candidates hit the all-important 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency.
The group had been working to get American expats enrolled and voting in the primaries, and that work had continued through lockdown.
Even before the election was called, Danz had turned its attention to two run-off elections in Georgia for Senate seats.
Speaking yesterday morning, Paullay
Beazley was hopeful the presidency would be called for Biden, but described the win as bittersweet. It unlikely the Democrats would win the Senate majority, so it would be like ‘‘legislating against a brick wall’’, she said.
And while the result was a political victory, it was not a moral one, she said, with about 7 millionmore people voting for Trump in this election than in 2016.
When asked what needed to happen to bring America back together, her answer was clear: America had never been united.
‘‘That’s what’s so disgusting about the phrase ‘Make America Great
Again’, when were we great?’’