12:30 am
As most election coverages do, the night starts off slow. Insignificant statistics and facts are passed around by presenters to analyse, as if they provide the key information to what could unfold in the coming hours. We know it has been a tight race, both Trump and Harris felt as though they could win; there is tension but excitement, concern but hope.
1:15 am
Flashy graphs, and swish maps show that Harris is already falling behind in lots of small ways. Republicans are looking good in Georgia and North Carolina, and Harris is down compared to Biden in parts of Florida. Harris’ final days on the stump were filled with positive phrasing, proclamations that their ‘ground game’ was better and optimism. So, I tell myself that these are insignificant and that we still have a long way to go – the night is still young.
I look at the infamous New York Times needle, which is leaning just to the right, softly predicting Trump to win the Electoral College but for Harris to win the popular vote. Despite the disappointment, I remind myself that it is not over. False hope is still hope?
2:00 am
Currently, watching ITV and doubt starts to go across Tom Bradby’s face. It feels as if hope for Harris is waning, and Trump could be doing quite well. The NYT Needle had moved even further in Trump’s favour, and as it inches towards the darker red, I become increasingly nervous. Could he really do it again? Since early September, I had felt uneasy about a Harris win, that Trump might just swing it. But the reality that America is choosing Trump once again is looming large and confronting this thought much scarier than I thought.
3:40 am
I must have fallen asleep, and I wake to Jeremy Vine stood in front of an electoral college map which is much more red than it was an hour ago. Hope and attention for North Carolina and Georgia has been replaced by the importance of other swing states – Michigan, Wisconsin and, of course, Pennsylvania - Harris’ only route to victory.
The trickle of bad results and data has turned into a down poor and suddenly there is a deluge of results suggesting a Trump victory.
4:52am
Elon Musk tweets “game, set and match”. Dystopian, to say the least. Trump is heading for victory and there is no way to stop the train which is speeding up along the tracks.
And then, suddenly, it is 6:30am.
Along with the rest of the country, my parents are waking up, my sister making her breakfast, and a new day has begun. For many, it is a day like any other. Though, as I open the curtains to an appropriately grey, misty morning, everything feels very different. The lack of sleep and copious amounts of coffee are certainly not to help. Yet, I can’t help but feel sadness, frustration and disappointment. Throughout the campaign, both candidates presented the election and its outcome as existential. And this morning feels just so. That we are waking up to a very different compared to yesterday morning, as another Trump presidency is impending.