Fresnans celebrate Biden victory on Tower District streets: ‘A new era in our democracy’
Celebration of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States took to the streets in Fresno’s Tower District Saturday.
A few dozen people showed up to wave American flags and cheer at the corner of Olive Avenue and Broadway Street. Passing cars honked their horns as the group ran with their flags across crosswalks.
Votes are still being counted, but the Associated Press called the election for Biden Saturday morning when it became clear incumbent President Donald Trump would not able to overtake Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania. The state’s 20 electoral votes put Biden above the 270 needed to win the election, with Nevada’s six electoral votes swinging toward the Democrat shortly after.
That had some people giddy with delight in the Tower District, including 23-year-old Yasmin Mendoza of Fresno, who was waving a Biden/Harris flag.
“I’m out here because all the people of color showed up, all the Latinos showed up and the Black community showed up, and here we are,” she said. “We have defeated Donald Trump and we will move towards a new era in our democracy.”
The event had originally been scheduled as a “Count Every Vote” rally before turning into a celebration.
One young girl saw the crowd, and with the help of her grandmother, brought a box of cookies to the group.
Nearby, Lynn Jacobsson of Clovis held a handmade sign depicting Sesame Street’s Count von Count, an image that has emerged in the last few days used to encourage election officials to count every vote.
She said her concern about the coronavirus pandemic, along with health care and climate change, inspired her to vote for Biden.
“I’m 80 years old, and I thought if Trump won the election we were going to absolutely in no way deal with the pandemic, that I was going to be inside my house for the next two years, watching people die around me,” she said. “The death toll is just so immense and it’s just so shocking that we have a leader that isn’t leading.”
Trump supporters
Even as the revelers celebrated, they acknowledged that the election was not the landslide for Biden that many had hoped for. More than 70 million Americans voted for Trump, more than polls had predicted in some states.
Some Fresnans were surely disappointed and a few trucks still carrying Trump flags were driving around town Saturday. As of Friday, 123,941 people had voted for Trump in Fresno County, compared to 147,683 who voted for Biden.
The Republican Party of Fresno County released a statement Saturday evening: “The national media has prematurely and inaccurately called Joe Biden the winner of the Presidential contest. In the Bush/Gore Presidential race contest in 2000, the official winner was not decided or called until mid-December – over one month after the election. Also, that contest involved lawsuits in only one state – Florida. Currently, there are multiple lawsuits in multiple states that are only beginning. The legal process will take many weeks before an official winner can be declared. The national media is obviously “stacking the deck” in favor of Biden to make the legal process look illegitimate.”
Jacobsson said she has relatives in California who voted for Trump.
“They seem to feel threatened by the fact that white people are in the minority at this point and they feel like they’re losing something, but I embrace the fact that it’s a diverse state,” she said.
Raquel Busani, 37, of Fresno, said she felt the election process was transparent, despite Trump’s allegations of fraud and filing of several lawsuits.
“If the GOP has actual facts that they can allege to support their claims of fraud, then they can bring them and the courts will decide,” she said. “I’m out here because the people have voted and voted for Biden.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
