In early September, the Muhlenberg College Democrats hosted ‘Scoop The Vote’. Students enjoyed Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in a variety of campaign themed flavours: ‘We Won’t Go Back Vanilla’ and ‘Harris Hazelnut’ celebrated the democrats and democracy in equal measure as they urged students to register to vote.
The sweetness of the event is not something uncommon on Mulhenberg campus, as a clear happiness arose from the prospect of Kamala Harris becoming the 47th President of the United States.
On the final day before polling, students piled into their school gym – utterly transformed and covered in blue. After hours and hours, Vice President Harris emerged from the curtain as ‘Freedom’ by Beyoncé played and victory felt within touching distance.
Marie Tohill, student at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is “as politically engaged as the next person”, at her liberal arts college. Yet, as she attended Harris’ final rally before election day she saw not just an alternative to Trump, but a new way forward.
Kamala Harris spent much of her last days on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, the state that was anticipated to decide the election. Muhlenberg, with its student population of just over 2,000, did not anticipate they would be where Harris closed out her bid for President.
A rally is a strange affair. For starters, they are announced out of the blue. It was only two days ahead of the event that Marie and her friends, while backstage for their school musical ‘Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’, put together that a rally was to be held in the very sports centre they frequent, all because they were told to move their cars out of the parking lot. They registered their interest right away, and the next night their deductions were proven right.
So, by nine in the morning on November 4th, Marie’s friends were in line to hear Harris speak. She hopped in later (busy with her radio show, ‘The Lowdown’ on WMUH FM), waiting in an excitable queue full of students, professors and many from the Allentown community. Ahead of them in the queue were a group of baristas from the coffee shop they hang out in. The whole line was abuzz with anticipation, as many supporters were interviewed by the media (Marie expressed her excitement ahead of the election to ‘Lehigh Valley News’, Allentown’s local outlet though it never made it to publish), and many a Harris-Walz pin was purchased under the heat of the Penn state sun. And despite the good weather, “it felt like Christmas”.
Allentown went blue, that didn’t mean everyone had Kamala ticked on their ballot. As they waited, a small but visible group of Trump supporters gathered. Marie described the general leaning of her campus as “hugely liberal”, though for some not attending ‘Berg’ for its political attitude, in this case a group of “only men” on sport’s scholarships, they took the opportunity to protest Harris’ being hosted on campus. “I guess people come out of the woodwork, with their Trump shirts and Trump flags” described Marie.
Finally, the ever so long line of hopeful democrats entered ‘Memorial Hall’ at noon, and Marie was utterly amused by the fact “it was just our school gym”. The Mulhenberg community was highly involved, the college’s Event Medical Services team provided the First Aid while the college paper, ‘The Muhlenberg Weekly’, had their own press table.
Rally’s are a long old affair, a real ‘event’, and Harris was not right up and on the stage by ten past. Instead there were performances, long speeches from local politicians like Susan Wild, (member of the House and a frequent speaker at the college who had Dr. Jill Biden campaign in her stead two years earlier, and who then lost her seat in the election. This felt like a “real loss” to Marie, despite most “voting blue down the ballot”) or a revered Reverend.
Kamala Harris took the makeshift stage at 4pm and addressed a crowd full of blue signs. Marie held one proclaiming ‘FREEDOM’, while others said ‘When We Vote, We Win’. “Oh, I really like her. I really support her and think she’s awesome”, said Marie as her opinion on Harris shifted from a well spoken alternative to a Trump presidency, to a candidate she deeply admired as an individual.
“It ended and everyone went home, and everyone had this feeling of hope, history is about to change”, and that hope drove Marie and her classmates out to the polls on campus early the next morning. Marie, a New York native, changed her place of residency to allow her to vote in the all-important swing state.
And hope remained, until later that night as things began to swing right. Marie attended a watch party and quickly it became clear, “this was not looking good”. By 8pm, Trump was 20 electoral votes ahead. “Remember the hope, remember the rally. It’s always like this at first”, her friends proclaimed. Midnight, Marie said, “I was already dead inside”. At 2am, Pennsylvania flipped and Marie called her mom and broke down.
The first week, as reality settled on her shoulders, was awful. Though as time passes, Marie is hopeful, admirably so. “If everyone goes around saying democracy is dead, then you don’t believe in yourself to revive it”. And she upholds that hope because of her own spirituality.
Marie aspires, now more than ever, to make a true difference in her community in Allentown. She hopes to use her double major in Media & Communications and Music to make good at a local level, whether that be through a non-profit or moving further through scholarship as right now Grad school is definitely an option.
“This is going to be a time to f*ck around and find out, for the American people”, as Donald Trump tries his hand at the Presidency a second time. “But then we’ll move on from there”. Marie is hopeful for the future beyond the next four years and it’s a quality that is as admirable as it is enviable.