By COOPER RATHMANN
On the night of November 5, some of the students along with ‘Why Bother Wisconsin’ organized and hosted a watch party for the results of this year’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Unfortunately, I was only able to make the back half of the event but many attendees were there since its start at 6 p.m., meaning there were some very invested watchers and studiers in the live results. The event overall was indeed a success in providing students a place to watch the results in a very significant time of American politics and the provided food was also a nice bonus for those who made it in time.
The night seemed like it was going to last forever but in a short amount of time many of the states were starting to be called for their respective candidates, which caused their following gasps of surprise, which went the opposite way to some of the predictions viewers had. My good buddy and political mastermind Demir Kasapoglu’28 had very unexpected results to which he said “I had Harris winning by a few electoral votes and right now the way it’s swinging in PA [Pennsylvania], AZ [Arizona], Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia is not looking good for Harris. Granted it’s likely the absentee ballots are not counted yet or slow to be counted…The energy in the room has sort of been shifting first they were exciting to oh no what’s going on.”
However, one of the coolest things I observed during my time at the watch party was how many of my international friends were there and interested in being present during a time of change. Wissal Es-sehli’25 said “It’s really interesting to see how college students are interested and to see how they are here just to do homework. But the guy on ABC News [Steve Kornacki] is so passionate about what he’s doing but we love him. It’s also nice to see how other professors are present and engaged with other students which is not common at other universities in general and how they spend time with students outside of classes.” Being present during an election for anyone in a different country is a very unique experience to have, which is something I had during my time in Buenos Aires when Javier Milei was elected in November 2023.
I was able to hear another international perspective from Karima Fatih’26, in which she states “I’ve been able to lock in and focus and if I wasn’t here I wouldn’t pay much attention to the polls. I also like the vibe that everyone is here together and I get to have a lot of stuff explained to me. I didn’t know about how it [the election system] works.” I asked Karima how it felt to be here in the US during the election to which she said, “I would always follow results back home and now I understand — I get to go home and flex on my dad everything I’ve learned.” It’s very interesting and intriguing to see how international students are engaging with the election and its subsequent changes that will come with the next winning candidate.
I was also happy to see faculty and staff enjoying their time at the watch, which was shown after political science professor Pablo Toral said, “It’s been great to see so many students involved so it’s a great nice event to commune, to celebrate community, and be very positive.” Overall, the election watch party was a fantastic event for both students and faculty and perhaps when most, if not all, the observers of this year’s watch party graduate, the future Beloit College students will carry this event on for others to live in the moment of potential history.
Featured graphic by Sophia Nitsche’25
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