Black students watch the election results live in a community of support

Black student groups gather together to watch the beginning of the CNN live stream in the Atlantic Building Tuesday night. (Nina Wilson/The Black Explosion)

Black student groups gathered to watch the 2024 presidential election results Tuesday night live on CNN together to provide a community of support and excitement for Tuesday night’s presidential election.

The Black Political Society hosted a watch party event in anticipation of the election results shown on CNN Live in the Atlantic Building. The Black Student Union, the Iota Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the Students Success Leadership Council, the Political Power Project, Theta Theta of Kappa Alpha Psi and the African Students Association also co-sponsored this event.

The watch party, originally from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., continued past 9 p.m. because BSU President Therman Hawkins III and many other students wanted to continue watching the election results together.

The watch party started with executive board introductions from all of the groups present, followed by a round of trivia with questions like, “what amendment was proposed on the Maryland ballot this year?” and “who was the first Black woman to run for the US presidency?”

Students mingled, ate food provided by the organizations and watched in anticipation of the live stream of the electoral map updates.

Students were most passionate and cheerful when Harris won Maryland and Washington D.C. at 8 p.m. Many in the crowd stood up and hollered, clapping loudly. The previous Donald Trump win was forgotten as Maryland students saw their state was blue on the screen.

Audrey Nguezet, a freshman computer science major, was the most passionate when talking about how she participated in early voting for Harris.

“I’ve been hyped up for this election… I woke up this morning and sang the national anthem. I’m bleeding red, white and blue,” Nguezet said.

This is the first time the 18-year-old voted. Nguezet was excited to be able to participate in such a pivotal election. She voted for Harris because of her policies on the economy, education, taxes and immigration.

“[Harris is] someone to look up to. She’s respectable,” Nguezet said.

Students watching the livestream were nervous and apprehensive about the results with Trump leading for most of the night. The audience booed loudly every time Trump won another state. . Harris’ wins were followed with claps and cheers

Hawkins hoped that the final result was too early to tell and that Harris would win.

“Her heart is in the right place,” Hawkins said. “I’m just nervous, it’s still very early,” Hawkins said around 7:30 p.m., with Trump leading 23 to 3 after winning West Virginia.

Hurve Habineza, a junior economics, politics and philosophy major, came to the watch party because he wanted to see the results in a community of Black people. He voted early for Harris and was hopeful for her win.

“It’s not looking good but I think we’ll pull through,” Habineza said calmly with confidence.

“Thank you to everyone who’s here today to witness history,” Hawkins said. “I’m really excited to bond together as a community.”

Former President Trump won the election around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. Trump has 292 electoral college votes defeating Harris’ 224, according to reporting from the Associated Press.

Republicans have a Senate majority and the House of Representatives is still counting votes.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story did not list the Black Political Society as the host of this event. This story has been updated.