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