Nocall puts party on hold; backers waiting anxiously
Across the Bay Area on Friday, Joe Biden supporters waited for an election result that seemed achingly close. Victory for the former vice president stood within a handful of electoral votes, and yet the end remained elusive.
President Trump’s smaller but still vocal band of backers in the region wasn’t ready to give up the fight, though. Falling further down in the vote count but mounting legal challenges in multiple states, the president continued to energize his followers — even as his efforts appeared increasingly desperate and dishonest. Each side could only wait. “It’s super anxietyinducing,” said Lauren Weisenstein, who had traveled to San Francisco from Scotts Valley ( Santa Cruz County) to celebrate a Biden victory with friends. Instead, she said, “I’ve been doomscrolling a lot,” scanning social media, looking for any bit of news to break the tension. “We’re all a little bit cautious to pop the Champagne.”
“There’s been such a divide in this country. I think Biden will calm things down.” Robert Prescott, honeymooning with wife Jordan from Fort Myers, Fla.
Biden was close to securing enough Electoral College votes to reach the 270 he needs to win. Trump was losing ground, but he was not out of the race. So the counting continued.
“I really hope he ( Biden) pulls it off,” said Maurice Williams, 61, his face creased with worry lines beneath his cloth COVID19 mask. “Trump — he doesn’t like California, and he’s going to cut off funding — and that’s especially hard in the Black community.”
Williams, who is Black, paused to share his thoughts as he hurried down Macdonald Avenue on Friday morning toward the Richmond BART Station. The security guard was late for work. Over the weekend, he worked security at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, which served as a polling location, and encouraged voters to snap selfies near a big “I voted” sign on the building, with a blue sky in the background.
“It showed that blue skies are ahead,” Williams said, his face loosening slightly.
Up the street, Jackie Albro, a retired AC Transit bus driver, sauntered along, gazing into store windows. At the Palace Furniture Value Center, she stopped, opened her handbag and pulled out a black mask, which she gently fastened over her nose and mouth as a reporter approached.
“I think Biden will make a very good president,” said Albro, 68. “He has the experience. He’s familiar with foreign policy. And ( running mate) Kamala ( Harris) — she was an attorney.”
Like many people, Albro has a long wish list for a Biden administration. First, she said, “I’d like them to take care of the ( economic) stimulus” package, long stalled in Congress.
She also wants to see a stronger effort to tamp down the COVID19 pandemic, and more empathy from the White House for the sick.
“Too many people are dying,” Albro said. “And Trump shows no concern.”
In Berkeley, about 20 masked protesters rallied at Bancroft Street and Telegraph
Avenue, just outside the UC Berkeley campus.
“Trump/ Pence OUT NOW!” they chanted, waving signs with the same message. They fear Trump will not abide by the election results if Biden wins, they said, and marched three blocks down Telegraph Avenue and back to campus.
“I would rather be out celebrating,” Nina Salameh, 18, a freshman in legal studies, said of Biden’s seemingly imminent victory. “But we can’t overlook the threat of Trump. He has continually demonstrated that he isn’t afraid to break the law.”
Salameh fears Trump will continue to fight election results in court and won’t concede “without a big struggle.”
Fellow firstyear student Gaby Cohen, 18, agreed. “He’s going to use every resource he has,” she said.
Waiting for the results of the vote count — and the end of the divisive Trump presidency — seemed to the students as endless on Friday as waiting for the end of the pandemic that had emptied out their campus. Even their fervent chants didn’t drown out sound of the rustling leaves blowing across the university’s desolate Sproul Plaza.
Despite the Bay Area’s strong leftward tilt, plenty of people were rooting for Team Trump to pull from behind.
Francisco Soto, 61, stood outside a storefront church on 23rd Street in Richmond, the Iglesia El Espiritu Santo.
Born in Nicaragua, Santo called himself a former socialist who fell in love with the U. S. political system — and a reluctant Trump supporter.
“Look, I don’t like him too much,” Soto said. “But we need Mr. Trump. He’s a mafioso guy. He’s a good businessman.”
Across California, roughly a third of voters chose Trump, similar to Solano County’s 34%. The remaining Bay Area counties showed less support for the Republican, from a low of 12% in San Francisco to 24% in Contra Costa County.
Arne Simonsen, 74, of Antioch voted for Trump a second time this election and has followed the president’s baseless allegations of voter fraud closely — not only because he wanted his candidate to win, but because he is the city clerk in charge of the election in that city.
Standing outside Antioch City Hall, wearing a blue and gold Navy hat, Simonsen considered the issue.
“As an elections official, I’m intimately aware of how things work at the county elections office,” he said. “It’s very credible,” he said, adding he didn’t think there was “widespread fraud. At least I hope not.”
As the numbers shift toward a Biden presidency, Simonsen said he’ll move on.
“Am I sad? Yeah. I thought he had more to accomplish, particularly for the economy,” he said. “I liked Trump’s independent side. He’s not a politician and he’s not a diplomat.”
But the public official had another nailbiter election on his mind. His own. As of Friday afternoon, Simonsen had less than a 2point lead over his closest rival to keep his city clerk position.
The day’s tensions left their mark in San Francisco, on the block of Montgomery Street across from 555 California St., an office tower partly owned by Trump.
Several dozen people aligned with Bay Resistance, a coalition of leftleaning advocacy groups that came together after the 2016 election, gathered Friday morning to paint the phrase “COUNT EVERY VOTE” on the asphalt in huge white letters. There was poetry and music and police steered traffic away from the block.
“We pulled this together yesterday when we realized the will of the people was overwhelming, but a few people are trying to block it,” said Pete Woiwode of Oakland, one of the organizers. Besides the Trump connection with the building, Woiwode said, one of the tenants is a pro-Trump law firm.
“This is the biggest voter turnout in history,” he emphasized. “It’s time to move forward from a chapter of hatred and division.”
Not everyone was consumed by the election drama on Friday.
Certainly not Robert and Jordan Prescott, who were exploring Fisherman’s Wharf before driving to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
“We’re on our honeymoon,” Jordan explained.
The newlyweds had arrived the day before from Fort Myers, Fla., a state that went for Trump. Robert voted for Biden. His wife didn’t vote.
“There’s been such a divide in this country. I think Biden will calm things down,” Robert said. Asked if he had friends who voted for Trump, he nodded and shrugged.
“We respect differences of opinion,” he said. “I did my part.”