Lafayette County Democrats Throw the ‘Biggest Watch Party in Town’

By Montana Byrd, a journalism student at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be reached at mwbyrd@go.olemiss.edu.

Last night, numerous democrats gathered at the Lyric in Oxford to watch the 2016 presidential election results. The Facebook event, ‘LafCoDems’ Election Night Watch Party,’ described the viewing party as being the “biggest watch party in town.” Event organizers, such as chair of the Lafayette County Democrats Cristen Hemmins, expressed excitement over the turnout. However, that excitement waned as the results came in.

“It all sort of came together. I’m so glad to see so many people here,” Hemmins said.

Hemmins was not the only person to feel excited about the turnout of the event. Adam Flaherty, president of the College Democrats at the University of Mississippi, described himself as feeling overwhelmed.

“At one point of the night, we had probably hundreds of people in this room,” Flaherty said. “Whatever happens, those are the people that I will work with to make this state, this community and the nation a better place for everyone.”

In addition to showing the election’s results live, the event also featured songs that were performed by Oxford’s own Jimbo Mathus. They also had food from Canoodle, which featured an election night themed menu.

Ole Miss senior Jessica Johnson was one of the of the many people in attendance. She described the atmosphere at the beginning of the party as being happy.

“We’re at a democratic event,” Johnson said. “Even when you see the opposite candidate, I haven’t heard a lot of booing or anything negative.”

When asked about how she felt at the beginning of the night, Hemmins did not anticipate the race to play out like it did.

“I felt pretty confident,” Hemmins said. “I never even entertained the thought that Trump would really come close.”

However, the race stayed neck and neck throughout the night. The event lasted longer than many of the people anticipated. People still filled the room at 11 p.m.

“I thought we all would, because the election already being called, be going home by now,” Hemmins said.

Before midnight, the viewing party began to shut down before the final results were projected due to the venue closing. Even though the results were not in, Donald Trump was leading in the presidential race, causing many people to leave the party feeling defeated. Flaherty described how he felt as being the “biggest defeat that I have ever felt in my civic life.”

“I’m not done. My political life, my civic life doesn’t end tomorrow,” Flaherty said. “My commitment to my fellow human beings does not end tomorrow. This might set us back, but that only heightens how necessary it is for us to keep fighting.”

Montana Byrd is a journalism student at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be reached at mwbyrd@go.olemiss.edu.