SIDNEY — In a surprising, or not so surprising, turn of events American’s now have Donald J. Trump as our president-elect.
While his opponent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have won the popular vote, according to the Associated Press (AP), Trump secured enough electoral votes to win the presidency.
In Shelby County, 18,148 people voted for him, while 4,143 voted for Clinton. Richard Duncan garnered 127 votes, Gary Johnson 572 votes, and Jill Stein 120 votes. One hundred and forty voters in Shelby County wrote in a candidate.
There were 195 under votes, meaning 195 people who voted didn’t vote for the presidential race, and 82 over votes, meaning 82 people selected more than one option when casting their ballot.
In 2012 Shelby County voted 72.2 percent for Romney, according to the New York Times, but President Obama won Ohio by just around 100,000 votes.
Overall in Ohio, Trump won 81 out of it’s 88 counties, according to the AP, with Hillary winning in urban areas like Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo, and of course, Athens County, the home of Ohio University, a very traditionally liberal area.
Trump also won states such as Pennsylvania and Iowa that had twice backed Obama, the AP reported.
Exit polls and unofficial returns reflect deep racial, gender, economic and cultural divides across the region and nationally.
But as Trump said in his acceptance speech last night, “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
Trump’s support Tuesday skewed older, more male and overwhelmingly white. His supporters said they are deeply dissatisfied with the federal government and eager for change. That’s according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research for national media outlets.
Clinton’s support was anchored in cities, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Trump’s advantages in small towns, rural areas and many suburbs. As she addressed supporters on Wednesday morning her voice cracked with emotion, “This is painful, and it will be for a long time.” But she told her faithful to accept Trump and the election results, urging them to give him “an open mind and a chance to lead.”
Trump said Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
“She congratulated us — it’s about us — on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she — she fought very hard.”
