Elation, Sadness In Austin Over Biden-Harris Victory

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Democrats were in a celebratory mood after Joe Biden secured the presidency on Saturday, but pro-Trump gatherings outside the state Capitol yielded an opposite response — dramatically illustrating the ideological divisiveness that marked the election.

“Texas Democrats are ecstatic Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been declared the clear winners of the 2020 presidential election," Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa and Vice Chair Dr. Carla Brailey said in a joint statement. "With this victory, we have proven that the arc of justice leans towards good, and we are on the path to restoring the soul of the nation."

While Donald Trump won the vote in Texas by nearly 6 percentage points, Travis County was decidedly Democratic as illustrated by 72 percent share of the electorate casting ballots for Biden. That result was expected in Austin — dubbed the blue dot in a red sea in traditional Republican Texas — yet reliably conservative Williamson County also had a majority of voters supporting the president-elect in a departure from 2016 when the vote there went to Trump.

Women who supported the Trump-Pence ticket gather along 11th Street outside the state Capitol grounds to express dissatisfaction over the outcome of the presidential election on Nov. 7, 2020. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Austin City Council member Greg Casar — arguably the most progressive representative on the municipal dais — issued a hope-suffused statement: "After four years of attacks on our families, our neighbors, and our children, we pulled together to march for justice, vote for change, and reject every attempt to divide us,” he said. “With Trump ousted by Biden’s candidacy and your votes, we now must rebuild our democracy and pass the progressive policies that so many people desperately need. Today we celebrate, tomorrow we get back to work. Onward!”

Video by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

In downtown Austin streets, celebratory honking and hand-written signs telegraphed support of such sentiments.

Despite their obsolescence, Trump 2020 signs were recycled by demonstrators to show support for the incumbent despite his loss to Joe Biden. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

A man carries a sign in downtown Austin emblazoned with the catchphrase "you're fired" often used by Donald Trump on his reality show "The Apprentice." Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Despite the overall Texas win for Trump, the Lone Star State loomed large in the election: “A strong majority of Americans led to this victory," Hinojosa and Brailey said. "Texas is proud to have delivered the third highest amount of raw votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It’s time to unify our country. Biden and Harris will lead us forward and build our economy back better. Our time is now. Our national nightmare of Donald Trump is finally over.”

Video by by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

But not everyone was happy, and the nightmare for some is the specter of a Biden administration. That sentiment was seen along 11th Street in downtown Austin, right outside the gates of the Texas Capitol grounds, where pro-Trump crowds expressed their dismay. Elsewhere downtown, some conservatives carried their weapons openly in buttressing their personal ideological stance in the moments after Biden exceeded the Electoral College vote needed to secure the presidency.

Pro-Trump residents gather outside the Capitol grounds to protest the outcome of the presidential election in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 7, 2020. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

"This is America, not a banana republic," one protester's sign read. "Four more years!" those in the crowd chanted. "We want Trump! We love Trump!" A heavy police presence stood guard, with a phalanx of protesters on both sides of the street. Passing motorists either honked in solidarity while others shouted epithets and vulgar hand gestures at the pro-Trump crowds.

A young man chose his perch away from the nucleus of the pro-Trump crowd, silently waving his banner to passing motorists on Nov. 7, 2020, in Austin, Texas. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Only a smattering of supporters of Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris were seen along downtown streets, clutching political placards illustrating their preference. But the Travis County Democratic Party scheduled a virtual celebration via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. "We did it! We can all breathe a sigh of relief and feel reassured that decency and integrity will return to the U.S. presidency," party chair Katie Naranjo wrote in the invitation.

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In 74 days, the Trump administration will give way to a Biden version as part of a longstanding American tradition of peaceful transition of power. Yet the divisiveness that marked the heated election is sure to linger — with politically opposed camps lining each side of a seemingly widening ideological fissure — as was dramatically illustrated in the Texas capital on Saturday.