Student Groups View Election Results

As the election results filtered in last night, a wide array of emotions were on display at campus watch parties held by the Harvard Republican Club, the Harvard College Democrats, and the Institute of Politics.

As students watched the House of Representatives map turn from blue to red, Republicans grew elated as Democrats became subdued.

In a conference room off of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the IOP, the Republican Club popped open Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider when unexpected early Republican victories were announced.

Rachel L. Wagley ’11, the HRC vice-president of campaigns and activism, made no attempt to hide her enthusiasm, wearing a red jacket, red shoes, a pin that said “Kill the Death Tax, don’t wound it”, and a National Rifle Association baseball cap.

“I’m ecstatic,” she said. “We just fired Nancy Pelosi. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Other Republicans were equally excited, though slightly more reserved.

“I’m thrilled with the House results,” said Kevin R. Palmer ’13, who arrived at 6:30 p.m. to start watching results. “It’s too early to tell but we picked up some seats we weren’t expecting to pick up.”

Despite the excitement of winning majorities in the House, the members of HRC were not as confident about the Senate results.

“Things are looking up in the Senate,” Antoine Martinho III ’13 said. “We don’t know if we’ll pull a majority, but we’d like to even things up a bit.”

Outside the conference room, a gathering of mostly Harvard Kennedy School students in the JFK Forum had a more scholarly air. Students said that they attended this particular watch party instead of a partisan event because they wanted to have discussion about the results, instead of simply celebrating.

“There have been good, heated discussions,” said Alexander Y. McCue ’14, who campaigned with the Democrats. “If you have both parties present, it keeps you in check.”

Some Kennedy School students even participated in a contest to predict the winners of certain races.

Outside the confines of the IOP, there was less elation over pizza at the Democrats watch party in Currier House, according to Jason Q. Berkenfeld ’11, president of the Harvard College Democrats.

“There is slight disappointment, but I’m not saying that was beyond our expectations,” he said. “We had the sense that we would lose the House and keep the Senate, and it looks like that is going to be the case.”

Over the course of the campaign, the Democrats knocked on just under 10,000 doors, which is in itself a feat, especially during a midterm election, Berkenfeld said.

“Win or lose, we had always defined success as waking up on the morning of November 3 feeling as though we had done everything we could to put Dems in a position to succeed,” Berkenfeld said, “That is undeniably a benchmark that we met tonight.”

Back at the Republican camp, the party went on. As John McCain won the Senate Race in Arizona, Wagley screamed in elation. “Whooo!” she said. “John McCain finally won—two years later.”

—Staff writer Monika L. S. Robbins can be reached at mrobbins@college.harvard.edu.