November 7 – On an unseasonably warm day in November, four friends sat on a bench in Portland’s Old Port drinking coffee.
“It feels like we’re back in 2016. We were all together then,” said 29-year-old Peyton Morrisette, gesturing to her friends.
“Except for 2016, I could tell myself that there was a certain amount of ignorance. But now, the evil, you just can’t escape it,” 30-year-old Lucy Comaskey chimed in.
In Portland, 80% of voters backed Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election, a stark difference from the national picture, where former President Donald Trump won a decisive victory.
When the group of young voters met Wednesday, they talked about what would happen next.
Robyn Estes and Kit Buda, both 29, have been engaged for two years, but as the election drew closer, they started talking more urgently about getting married.
“We are afraid of losing our rights,” Buda said.
Estes and Buda are an odd couple. They worry about what Trump and Project 2025, a policy agenda created by conservatives, will mean for their lives. The agenda includes a plan to abolish same-sex marriage in order to “restore the American family.”
“I never want to be in a situation where Robyn is in the hospital and I can’t be there because we’re not allowed to get married,” Buda said.
Now they plan to organize a wedding at the city hall as soon as possible.
Buda said they had wanted to wait until they had top surgery to get married; they had hoped to feel like themselves when they finally tied the knot. But Buda said they have been on a waiting list for seven months and it is unclear when surgery will be possible. Now that Trump has won the election, they don’t want to wait anymore.
Morrissette said she struggled to understand how so many people could have supported Trump.
“I don’t understand it. I could understand it if more people voted selfishly, but so many people are just shooting themselves in the foot,” she said.
None of the friends had hope. But Comaskey said she knew the feeling wouldn’t last forever.
“I think hope will come,” she said. “I have hope in us.”
A few blocks away, Nina Battice, 42, sat on a bench smoking a cigarette.
“I’m despondent,” she said.
Battice said she was confident Harris would win the election. She lives in California and had been on a road trip along the East Coast and Canada for two weeks. She sent in her ballot early and was excited about election night.
“I was pretty sure,” she said. “I thought we were going to win. The amount of losing in the swing states was just devastating.”
She said she fears the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, will be repealed.
“I feel so much fear. My daughter is 23 and she has insurance. I worry about her if Obamacare doesn’t go into effect,” Battice said.
COMMON GOALS
Just before noon, two friends with distinctly different political views gathered to plant daffodil bulbs in Libbytown.
Barbara Lanfer, 73, voted for Trump. Her friend Carlene Hill Byron, 67, voted for Harris. The two women are both part of Rise Church and were already planning to plant the daffodils in nearby Thomas Park on Wednesday as the weather forecast called for good weather. They hadn’t thought much about the day that would fall right after the election.
“It is heartbreaking for me to see relationships and communities fall apart because of differences that are often just differences in how we achieve something that is a common goal,” Byron said.
She said they both cared about their community and wanted everyone to have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe.
“We can both work together for these goals,” Lanfer said. “I would like to see the country do a better job of that.”
In Lincoln Park, Aime Shongo, 37, sat on a bench listening to music. He is Congolese and a permanent resident of the United States, but he does not yet have citizenship and therefore could not vote in Tuesday’s elections.
He said he was glad Trump won because he likes his economic policies. He said he thought Trump would create more jobs and cut taxes.
“I think Trump can actually bring peace,” he said.
‘I JUST WISHED AMERICA TO DO BETTER’
Still, most Portlanders who spoke to a reporter Wednesday said they felt like they were grieving.
Sofia Wales, 5, sat next to her mother, eating a cookie and holding a new stuffed animal.
“She just went to public school,” said Lindsay Wales, 33. “She’s going to learn about presidents and this guy is literally a rapist and a sex offender. How do I explain that to her?”
Trump has been accused of sexual assault more than a dozen times but has staunchly denied the allegations. A civil jury found him liable in 2023 for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll.
Wales said she has family members and friends who support Trump, which baffles her. She said it hurts to see them celebrated on social media when she feels so scared for the future.
“People wonder why victims of sexual violence don’t speak up because their abusers are elected president,” she said. “As someone who has had these experiences, everyone around you says it’s horrible, but they clearly don’t care.”
As Wales spoke, her daughter ate her cookie and skipped around. She grabbed her mother’s phone and started taking silly pictures. Wales laughed and then sighed.
“I just wanted America to do better,” she said. “I have a good group of friends who feel the same way, but I don’t think it was enough.”
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