Over 150 people packed into the Rosecomb Beer Garden for the Wake County Democrats to foster a community during the 2024 Election.

The crowd shared a feeling of excitement. Carissa Johnson, an at-large representative for Cary Town Council, said she was “cautiously optimistic.”

“There are so many folks that are afraid of a repeat of the Trump election,” Johnson said. “People are optimistic, but they’re also self-preserving to a certain extent. They’re braced for the worse.”

Rachel Jordan, head of the Western Wake Democrats, organized the watch party expecting only a handful of volunteers from the Wake Democratic Party to show up — 220 people RSVPed for the event and Jordan said turnout was higher than expected.

“Everybody’s really excited,” Jordan said. “I don’t know if we’re going to go for Harris, but I know that the people on the ground here have been working incredibly hard.”

Many attendees canvassed for Harris or worked the polls, but some attendees like Rob Stern, a travel agent from Raleigh, said he attended to be around other Democrats after hearing the election results.

“We all have that bond of kinship to be together and either embrace or comfort each other depending on what happens at the end of the night,” Stern said.

While this year’s election featured every issue on the ballot, reproductive rights was one of the biggest for attendees.

Jordan said her second daughter had a vascular brain tumor, which meant she could not survive after birth. Her head was too large for a traditional delivery, resulting in emergency surgery that Jordan said she may have died without.

Jordan said her experience with reproductive care as well as stories from her friends are what made reproductive rights a major issue for her.

“Nobody ever goes into an abortion happy,” Jordan said. “It’s never an easy decision. To take women who are making these incredibly personal and heart-wrenching decisions and demonize them and possibly put their lives in danger — it’s just so horrific and so soulless.”

Stern said one issue he prioritized was simply a level-headed government.

“There’s so much anger in the world; anger in the Middle East, anger in Russia, anger among each other, that we need kind of a rational, soothing, sort of level-headed governmental style,” Stern said.

Maria Cervania, a North Carolina state representative, said regardless of the issue, there will be local effects.

“What’s happening federally is also trickling down to the states, and it’s scary,” Cervania said. “It’s scary for everyone, women, communities of color, men, everyone.”

With their issues in mind, attendees had high hopes for a potential Harris presidency.

Jordan said she ran a three-month campaign last year, so she could relate to Harris.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done that did not involve bearing children,” Jordan said. “It was fascinating, and I learned a lot, but I slept four hours a night. … Looking at what she has done, the stories that have come out of her getting the call, and then spending 10 hours on the phone … I don’t think people have any clue how hard what she’s done is, and she has done it without stepping almost a foot wrong. I think it’s really amazing.”

Mona Singh, vice precinct chair for the Wake County Democratic Party, said she believes Harris’s care for people will benefit her style of presidency.

“She cares about the youth, she cares about the elderly, she cares about the working class people,” Singh said. “The policies she’s put forth … come from a person who’s actually been there, seen that, knows the world.”

Midway through the night, the announcement of Josh Stein’s gubernatorial win in North Carolina swept through the beer garden, quickly followed by a wave of enthusiastic cheers.

Cervania said as someone who works in the state legislature, Stein’s win bodes well for North Carolina.

“If we have a different dynamic, it’ll make it much harder [to work],” Cervania said. “With Mark Robinson conceding, that’s a good step forward.”

Stern said regardless of who wins, he hopes Americans will stay united.

“[I] hope that whoever does win surrounds themselves with good people who can unite the country and bring us together as Americans, because we have to do that if we’re going to succeed,” Stern said.

As the watch party wound down, leaving only a few stragglers by 11 p.m., Johnson said she was proud the party attracted a diverse crowd to spend the evening together.

“This is what I think is beautiful about democracy and the Democratic Party, all are welcome as they are,” Johnson said. “You tell us you are, that’s who we believe you are. That’s who we’ll embrace.”