The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 — 3A

They 
cheered 
when 

Republican 
presidential 

nominee Donald Trump won 
Alabama. They smiled when 
they saw Rubio win Senator 
of Florida. Like the rest of 
America, they shifted nervously 
back and forth in their seats. 
Some gripped their phones as 
they received notifications of 
results.This was how some of 
the University of Michigan’s 
Republican students watched 
the 
2016 
election 
unfold 

Tuesday night.

Over 
50 
students 
from 

varying University of Michigan 
conservative groups gathered 
in Rackham Assembly Hall 
Tuesday night to watch Fox 
News’ coverage of the 2016 
election — until 10 p.m., when 
they had to leave because they 
had only reserved the room 
until then.

As of 10:45 p.m., Trump is 

winning in Michigan with 49.0 
percent, behind Clinton’s 46.0 
percent.

Students 
from 
campus-

sponsored 
groups, 
such 
as 

Young Americans for Freedom, 
Students for Life and Campus 

Republicans all gathered around 
tables in the hall awaiting the 
result of each state as the polls 
closed, cheering when Donald 
Trump took hold of a state. The 
event was sponsored by Fox 
News.

LSA junior Grant Strobl, who 

organized the event, said he 
wanted to promote engagement 
with the process.

“I put on this event because 

I think it’s important that 
students are engaged in the 
electoral 
process,” 
Strobl 

said. “It’s a lot more fun to be 
engaged in this process when 
you’re with peers.”

Given that Ann Arbor and 

the University of Michigan have 
historically swung left at the 
polls, many students in these 
conservative groups said they 
found solidarity in watching 
the election with like-minded 
peers, such as LSA freshman 
Nicole Hocott, a member of 
Michigan Students for Life.

“I think Michigan is a very 

liberal place, so to be in a 
community where other people 
are like-minded or open minded 
is really refreshing and nice,” 
Hocott said. “Otherwise I would 
probably feel really lonely that 
I’m rooting for one thing when 
everybody around me is rooting 

for the other.” 

Of the students in the crowd, 

the majority said they predicted 
Democratic 
presidential 

nominee Hillary Clinton would 
win the presidency, though 
many students believed the 
election would be close.

“I think it’s gonna be a toss-

up. Right now the polls say 
Hillary is gonna win, but the 
challenge is going to be, are 
Hillary supporters going to turn 
out?” Strobl said.

Hocott said she attributed 

media bias to why she believed 
Clinton is likely to win.

“I think Clinton will probably 

win just because the media has 
misrepresented Trump as super 
racist and misogynistic,” she 
said.

Though many students at the 

event were reluctant to share 
their political views, some were 
open with why they support 
Trump. 
LSA 
junior 
James 

Brown explained that it was not 
the candidate’s ideas that won 
him over, but rather his overall 
disdain for Clinton.

“Really it’s not because I 

wanted Donald Trump to be 
president, but because I wanted 
Hillary Clinton to be president 
less. It’s really choosing between 
the lesser of two evils in this 

election for me,” Brown said.

Music Theater and Dance 

senior 
Bret 
Patterson 
said 

he wore his “Make America 
Great Again Hat” to the event 
to display his loyalty to the 
nominee.

“I voted because of his 

outsider status and just to try 
to break the system of special 
interests 
and 
how 
much 

influence they have on politics,” 
he said. 

Other students said they 

voted 
for 
Trump 
because 

of 
specific 
issues 
that 
he 

supported.

“One of my most important 

issues is abortion, and so that 
was really important to me that 
we have a pro-life president,” 
Hocott said. 

Regardless of their reasons, 

most students admitted that 
they would be disappointed 
if Trump lost, but said the 
Republican party would recover 
from the defeat.

But no matter what the result, 

Patterson said he was very 
tempted to wear his Trump hat 
on campus Wednesday.

“I 
probably 
wouldn’t 

wear the hat to my classes,” 
Patterson said. “I would not sit 
in an auditorium in Angell Hall 
wearing the hat.”

Student Republicans watch anxiously as 
election results come in Tuesday night

Conservative groups gather together in Rackham Assembly Hall for event sponsored by Fox News

ERIN DOHERTY

For the Daily

Mirroring the closeness of the 

presidential 
election, 
the 
race 

for two seats on the University 
of Michigan Board of Regents 
remained too close to call as of early 
Wednesday morning.

As of 2 a.m., incumbent Regent 

Denise Ilitch (D) was pulling ahead 
of three other major contenders 
in most key counties as of 2 a.m. 
Wednesday morning. Following 
close behind, fellow incumbent 
regent Laurence Deitch (D) and 
former 
U.S. 
ambassador 
Ron 

Weiser, one of two Republican 
candidates for regent, were locked 
in a tight race for the second spot. 

In 47 of 83 total counties that 

had finished counting precincts 
as of 2:30 a.m., Weiser and fellow 
Republican candidate Carl Meyers 
had received 795,881 votes and 
771,232 votes respectively. Ilitch 
and Deitch were behind with just 
637,245 and 552,657 respective 
votes. However, the state’s most 
populous counties that had not 
finished counting showed Ilitch 
leading significantly, with Weiser 
close behind.

Among large counties that had 

not yet fully reported, including 
Oakland, Washtenaw, Macomb and 
Genesee, results varied.

As of 2 a.m., Weiser and Deitch 

were tied at 22.59 percent of the 
votes in Oakland County, one of 
the biggest in the state, with 515 
out of 520 precincts reported and 
Weiser ahead by just 15 votes. 
Ilitch pulled away from both in 
the area with 302,864 total votes, 
or 26.3 percent.

In Washtenaw County, Deitch 

and Ilitch had pulled ahead of 
Republican 
challengers 
with 

about 50 percent of precincts fully 
reported, receiving 83,794 and 
92,643 votes respectively.

In Macomb County, Ilitch and 

Weiser had pulled ahead with 
almost all precincts reported. Ilitch 
received 175,057 total votes and 
Weiser received 164,465, while 
Deitch had 140,413. Ilitch and 
Deitch gained the most votes in 
Genesee County after 76 percent of 
precincts counted with 80,127 and 
71,971, respectively.

Wayne County — the district 

of 
1.7 
million 
residents 
that 

includes Detroit — had not yet 
reported its results in aggregate 
as of Wednesday morning. Wayne 
usually swings Democratic.

If Weiser were to be elected, 

he 
would 
become 
the 
third 

Republican voice on the Board, 
a significant chance from the 
past decade of a 6-2 Democratic 
majority in the body. The last time 
three Republicans sat on the Board 
was in 2006, when former athletic 
director David Brandon joined 
Andrea Newman (R) and Andrew 
Richner (R).

Weiser, 
a 
prominent 
state 

Republican party member and 

University alumni, campaigned on 
using his finance expertise as the 
founder of McKinley Associates 
to rework the budget to lower 
tuition. This is Weiser’s second time 
running a full campaign for regent, 
after an unsuccessful bid for the 
seat in 2014.

In an interview early Wednesday 

morning, Weiser said he is wary 
of the outcome without Wayne 
County fully reported, noting that 
he was up by 160,000 votes at one 
point in 2014 but lost after Wayne’s 
votes came in.

However, he said the fact that 

Trump is pulling ahead on the top 
of the ballot benefits other local 
Republican elections.

Overall, he said if elected, 

his focus remains on keeping 
the University affordable for all 
students around the state if elected 
to the Board.

“My biggest priority is seeing how 

we can keep tuition for freshman 
coming in at the same level for all 4 
years that they’re in school,” Weiser 
said. “The other is trying to make 
sure the people going to Flint and 
Dearborn have the same quality of 
education as in Ann Arbor.”

Ilitch, a Detroit businesswoman, 

ran for her second term on the Board 
on a platform focusing on student 
affordability 
and 
minimizing 

tuition costs.

“I want to stay laser-focused on 

an affordable, accessible, quality 
education for all students,” she said 
in an October interview with The 
Michigan Daily.

Deitch, in his 24th year on the 

board, emphasized his experience 
and commitment to diversity during 
his campaign. Both he and Ilitch 
criticized Republican presidential 
nominee 
Donald 
Trump 
and 

“Trumpism” at a Clinton rally on 
Monday featuring President Barack 
Obama, with Deitch tying Weiser 
to Trump. Weiser is a finance vice 
chair for the Trump campaign.

Early 
Wednesday 
morning, 

Deitch said he was shocked by the 
results of the national election, as 
Donald Trump had 248 electoral 
votes as of 2:30 a.m. in a race many 
predicted would swing toward 
Hillary Clinton, but he was honored 
to serve for the past 24 years.

“If I win, I’m happy to serve,” he 

said. “If I lose, I’m honored to have 
served my time on the board but 
again, I’m just not sure what’s going 
to happen.”

Meyers, 
a 
Republican 
from 

Dearborn, has focused his campaign 
on three main issues: freezing 
tuition, improving transparency 
between the board and students, 
and increasing in-state enrollment 
at Flint and Dearborn campuses.

“I think the conversation needs 

to be bigger than just the number of 
underrepresented minorities who 
go here,” Meyers said in October 
interview with The Michigan Daily. 
“Focus on black, white, and brown 
statistics does not do justice to the 
challenge here.”

Two open seats on Board 
of Regents too close to call

Incumbent Denise Ilitch holds lead in key counties; 
Weiser, Deitch vie for majority in populous areas

RIYAH BASHA
Daily Staff Reporter

and friends given plans outlined 
by Trump including a proposal 
to ban all Muslim immigration, 
offensive 
comments 
about 

undocumented immigrants and 
bragging about inappropriately 
touching women.

LSA senior Stuart Inahuazo 

said as a Latino student, he 
believes Trump’s victory suggests 
that he is not accepted in the U.S.

“This 
election 
has 
shown 

me that the United States is not 
welcome to other people and 
other cultures,” he said. “It has 
shown that people have come 
out of the shadows by supporting 
an individual who has tarnished 
the culture of America and has 
hurt me on the basis of my latino 
heritage. It has spit in the face of 
my Latino culture.”

LSA freshman Arwa Gayar 

wrote in an email interview that 

she is concerned for the safety 
of Muslims like herself across 
the country under a Trump 
presidency.

“What do you think having 

a president that openly targets 
minorities 
will 
do 
to 
this 

country?” she wrote. “Racist 
remarks have already become 
normalized 
since 
he 
started 

running, I can only imagine the 
climate if he actually becomes 
president. As a Muslim American 
I would truly fear sharing my 
religious affiliations. I can only 
imagine what women who wear 
hijab feel as their religious views 
are openly visible to all.”

On campus, many students 

reacted with shock and distress 
as the results were released. Prior 
to Election Day, Michigan Daily 
election 
surveys 
consistently 

showed 70 percent of students 
supporting Clinton. As well, many 
students 
worked 
throughout 

the election season with College 
Democrats 
and 
Students 
for 

Hillary towards a Clinton victory

Though some students did not 

appear enthused about voting for 
either candidate on Election Day, 
voter turnout was still higher in 
precincts with large number of 
students than it was in 2012.

Before the race was officially 

called, LSA freshman Mihir Bala 
said she hopes Clinton wins but 
does not believe the result will be 
catastrophic for the country.

“I will be pretty disappointed. 

I wouldn’t say I would be 
absolutely devastated because I 
really do love this country a lot 
and I hold out a little bit of hope,” 
she said. “There are people out 
there who believe what I believe. 
We will stand up to racism and 
sexism. Yes, we had a bad day 
today, but we have to roll with it 
and we have to keep fighting for 
what we believe in.”

However many students on 

campus were genuinely excited 
about electing Clinton.

College Democrats declined 

to comment at the time that the 
results were released.

Social work graduate student 

Samantha Cooley, who attended a 
watch party in the Union, said she 
is very upset by Trump’s victory 
due to his lack of background 
relevant to the position, compared 
to Clinton.

“I’m devastated. I’m disgusted,” 

she said. “It’s just sad to me that 
a woman who has 40 years of 
experience in this kind of work 
and then just lose this election 
to a man who has no experience 
whatsoever.”

LSA freshman Ryan Clemmons 

said he was shocked by the results, 
and believes he was insulated 
from the opinions of much of the 
rest of the country due to living in 
Ann Arbor.

“I feel a giant pit in my stomach. 

I didn’t think that this would 
happen,” he said. “Living in the 
college bubble, we’re surrounded 
by so many educated people and 
we all kind of have the same idea 
about this election and I didn’t 
really think about the rest of the 
country.”

ELECTION
From Page 1A

During 
the 
Democratic 

primary, turnout in Washtenaw 
County was reported at almost 
40 percent, playing a role in 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.)’s 
upset victory over now-eventual 
Democratic 
presidential 

nominee Hillary Clinton. That 
turnout rate was more than triple 
the national average Democratic 
turnout, at 14.4 percent.

For the general election, 83 

percent of respondents in the 
most recent Daily polling said 
that they plan to vote in the 
upcoming election, though the 
Daily cannot confirm whether 
they did so. In comparison, 57.5 
percent of registered voters 

participated in the 2012 election.

The 2016 election overall 

differs 
from 
previous 
ones 

as it features two of the most 
unpopular 
candidates 
in 

election 
history. 
According 

to an aggregate of polls from 
RealClearPolitics reports that 
Clinton’s unfavorability is at 
54.4 percent, and GOP candidate 
Donald Trump’s unfavorability 
is at 58.5 percent. In the 

Daily’s survey, 66.7 percent of 
University students gave Clinton 
a rating ranging from neutral 
to very favorable opinion. In 
contrast, 87 percent of students 
ranked Trump as either a high 
dislike or dislike.

MICHIGAN
From Page 1A

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

