LEE COUNTY, Fla. — About 100 Lee County Democrats popped champagne to celebrate a victory for their party Saturday night.
“I’m damn excited!” said Jan Manarite.
Everyone grabbed a cup and danced the night away, But that’s not where the party started. Earlier in the day, people waved their Biden-Harris flags, and chanted for the President-Elect.
They expressed an overall feeling of excitement for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Ellen Hemrick with Show Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) said this is only the beginning of a long road to undo decisions made by the current presidential administration.
“We are relieved that we no longer are going to go backwards. That we are going to go forwards,” she said. “The amount of repression, and repealing of very important environmental regulations, very important civil rights regulations.”
Not everyone in Southwest Florida gathered to celebrate the incoming president and vice president. A large group of President Donald Trump supporters gathered in front of Cape Coral City Hall. About 100 people posted in front of Seed to Table in Naples to applaud the incumbent president, like Roselyne Dorval.
“What has he done in the last four years? He has showed up for us in such a major way that we can see. We had eight years of Biden prior to this. He didn’t make those changes,” said Dorval.
Dorval said she's referring to changes and improvements President Trump has made for business owners like herself and funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Biden-Harris supporters mark this as the beginning of the healing process. Hemrick says it’s where the real work begins.
“We can party, but this is no time to go home thinking that we’ve won because the nation is hurting,” she said.
She added she hopes President-Elect Joe Biden will tackle key issues for people of color while in office, like housing and over policing in their neighborhoods.
