Biden beats Trump, and Seattle rejoices: Photos, dispatches from Saturday
Seattle residents took to the streets to celebrate Biden-Harris win
After the election was called before 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, making it official that Joe Biden had defeated incumbent Donald Trump, Seattleites popped bottles of Champagne and took to the streets to celebrate. Below are photos and dispatches from around the area.
9:00 p.m., Capitol Hill
Celebrations continued on Saturday evening with a large dance party surrounding a dumpster fire at the intersection of 10th Avenue and East Pike Street in Capitol Hill. A group of antifascist people protesting both candidates chanted, "fuck Trump, fuck Biden too. They don't give a fuck about you," while marching along Pike Street.
Saturday afternoon, Capitol Hill and Downtown
2 p.m. in Bellevue
In Bellevue, Rita Das said she was happy when she learned on the internet that Biden had won the election.
She watched as things changed, over the last four years, under Trump’s administration and she hasn’t been able to travel home to Bangladesh because of her visa for a year and a half.
“I am also a human being,” she said. “ I want to stay with my family.”
But she hopes things will improve in the next four years.
“I want to see America great again, but with better plans.”
—Ashley Hiruko
1 p.m. on Capitol Hill
Hundreds danced in the street during an impromptu celebration near Cal Anderson Park.
8 secs
A dance party broke out on Capitol Hill in Seattle, in celebration of Biden's victory on Nov. 7, 2020. Music was blaring, cars were honking, and people yelling on Saturday afternoon.
12:30 p.m. Westlake Park
The march in downtown Seattle took a different tone from the celebrating happening on Capitol Hill.
Community organizer Nikkita Oliver said they wanted to be excited about the results. But “Kamala Harris put a lot of Black people in jail," they said. "Biden also contributed to that."
Performers shared music and dance in between the speeches. Community organizer Hamdi Mohamed also spoke during the rally.
“You cannot just stop here just because Biden will soon be in office,” Mohamed said. “We must keep the pressure on and keep pushing for federal progressive policies.”
In the crowd, Marisol Ponce celebrated the Democratic win, even though she said the party and candidates are not perfect.
“But they were our best choice and I'm also very happy to finally have a female as the vice president,” Ponce said.
The rally and march continued to push for changes demonstrators have called for since the summer, including defunding the police. The banner highest in the air at the front of the crowd read “our work continues.”
—Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Noon in Redmond
In Redmond, Steven Freeman said he cried tears of joy when he learned of the election results around 9 a.m.
“It’s been a really miserable, energy been sucked out,” he said. “Nothing for the middle class, everything for the top 1 percenters; Trump seems really concerned with himself.”
Freeman ended a six-year contract with the Navy in February, and was hoping to get a job this summer.
Freeman said societal morale is low, which has affected him.
“You play off your environment,” he said. “Plus while the pandemic hit, he was out there playing golf,” Freeman continued. “Him on Twitter just talking about nothing.”
—Ashley Hiruko
8:40 a.m. on Capitol Hill
On Capitol Hill, Patti Crowley held a homemade Biden sign in her front yard and wooted loudly.
“I am beyond over the moon,” she said. “I have been under this stress for four years. I am so happy that I will wake up, and I won’t have to check him to make sure that my personal safety is okay, and my family’s.”
She said she does not expect Biden to get on top of Covid and Black Lives Matter right away. And she said she is so excited about Kamala Harris, the first female vice president. She cried when she mentioned Harris.
“It’s been the election of a lifetime,” Crowley continued. “Our lives really depended on it. Yes, I wanted an overwhelming blue wave, but that’s where our country is, we’re really divided, and we need to come together.”
—Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
A car parade at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle after the election is called in Joe Biden's favor:
1 min
A car parade near the Pike Place Market in Seattle on Saturday, November 7, 2020, after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election.
From Twitter:
Listeners called into KUOW:
I
am a combination of ecstatic and relieved and thrilled and very emotional about winning, and Kamala Harris winning. Our country needs this. To me it felt like our part of the weight of the world has been lifted somewhat from our collective shoulders. We so need to be not enemies, work together, all of us. —Sally, Greenwood, Seattle
I
am so excited about Biden and Kamala’s win. It’s so nice to see people excited and celebrating and having joy. It’s the first time I’ve seen pure joy since the pandemic started. It’s the first thing, we’re on our way to recovery. And we have a female vice-president! —Maria
I can’t believe that finally they have called the elections five days after election day. The weight was painful and exhausting, as everything is with Trump. I’m so happy, this Trump nightmare is finally over. There are a couple more months to go, and I’m sure it’s going to be ridiculous. And there’s going to be drama like there is always, and he’s going to fling poop at us like a crazy monkey.
Better put up your shit shield, because it’s going to be a messy transition, no doubt. But there is freedom on the horizon, thank God. —Jennifer, north Seattle
