The room at Lofty Spaces in Dallas hummed with energy as “Love Train” by The O’Jays played Tuesday night at the Democratic Watch Party.
Two women in front of the DJ held up a sign that read, “We Win!” while another woman displayed one reading “Harris-Walz.” Behind them, a camera crew chatted with voters and captured the scene. Some people gathered around a live news feed on the screen, watching the election updates as they came in.
The DJ in a black cowboy hat moved to the next tune, playing “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire, lifting spirits even higher. Friends and strangers cheered louder as they waited for their turn to take selfies and pictures with a cutout of Kamala Harris’s head.
“This is a possible historic night as yet until we’ve got we’re on the brink of having the first African American, Native American, Indian, female, and that is just historic,” said Cathy Cole, a retired business analyst for JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Harris’s platform and the strong ethics she represents are everything, Cole said.
“We have good people in this country who have formed beliefs they wouldn’t form if we had a better democracy,” Texas Senator Nathan Johnson said. “I think it has been hijacked by plutocratic forces and misinformation machines. It’s a bit of a sickness that we have to cure.”
Many good people in this country hold beliefs they wouldn’t have if democracy were stronger, Johnson said. It’s been overtaken by powerful interests and systems of misinformation, and this is a problem we need to address and heal, he said.
“There are a lot of disenfranchised Republicans who know that the real foundation of the Republican Party is not being represented, and so they don’t see where they actually fit into the Republican Party of 2024,” Dallas County Clerk John Warren said.
Both Colin Allred and Kamala Harris will come out on top, though it’s still a wait-and-see situation, Warren said.
“I think that Kamala Harris will still be President of the United States. It appears as though we’ve fallen in Texas as it relates to the U.S. Senate race, but there’s still a lot of House races that will continue to rise,” said Texas State Sen. Royce West, District 23.
The Democratic Party represents a commitment to inclusivity and loving our neighbors. As a pastor, regardless of how people vote, the Kingdom of Heaven is our top priority as Christians, Cliff Temple Baptist Church Pastor Trevor Jamieson said.
