Republicans congregated at a Cary hotel on election night to support Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency. Supporters felt optimistic about Trump’s chances of winning — hours later, he did just that.

The Wake County Republican Party hosted the event, but not all of the attendees were partisan. Chris Boone, a US Postal Service worker, is an independent voter who was looking for a social event to watch the count. 

“I just wanted to find a watch party period, whoever was hosting it,” Boone said. “It just so happened that the NC GOP was hosting a party. Because the one thing I’m not gonna do is bash either side.”

For Boone, balancing the budget is an important issue, and he believes Trump is the most capable candidate. 

“I definitely think conservatives are better with money because they’re conserving this by, you know, by the very nature of the name I’m here to spend as little as possible,” Boone said. “So by nature, conservatives are better because they understand the importance of money.”

Drew Dimeglio, the vice chair of the North Carolina Teen Republicans, said spending was his primary motivator for supporting Trump.

“Number one is stopping the bleeding,” Dimeglio said. “It’s not going to be immediate, but it’s just going to be course-correcting from what happened in the Biden-Harris administration.”

Paul Meyers, a senior director at a data company, also emphasized the economy and price hikes in his decision to vote for Donald Trump. 

“Prices are still higher than they were four years ago,” Meyers said. “So you’re not getting back to four years ago.”

Meyers said he doesn’t believe a corporate sales tax works to reduce prices, emphasizing how corporate taxes are only passed on to consumers. 

“He understands that you don’t add taxes on top of a company, all they do is pass the numbers along,” Meyers said.

Inflation is also an important factor in Meyers’ support for Trump. He believes that although inflation has come down, prices are too high, however, Meyers is willing to endure Trump’s proposed 30% tariff on imported goods. 

Immigration and the southern border were also important issues for voters at the event. Karl Roth, the GOP candidate for District Court Judge 10D seat 3, believes that the U.S. is a nation built on immigration, but that the system needs reform. 

“People need to go through the system,” Roth said. “We shouldn’t just open the doors because we don’t know who’s coming into the country. Most of those people are going to do no harm, but there are some people who live in a dangerous world that are not being properly vetted, and we just can’t continue to accept the flood of immigrants that we have.”

Dimeglio said the border is a major issue in the election, advocating for a more patrolled border with merit-based immigration. 

“I think legal immigration is great, especially merit-based legal immigration,” Dimeglio said. “But with regards to the border, the number one concern has to be safety, because you see the cartels coming in. … You also see fentanyl-related deaths, overdoses, that are directly linked to the cartels, and we are doing nothing about it.”

Religious values were also an important factor for event attendees. Ethan Finberg, a chemical engineer, believes moral controversies are more pressing than economics and fiscal policy in this election. 

“You have a large religious community out there that have seen politics put its hand in moral issues,” Finberg said. “So now you have people that may not care about economic issues at all, but now you have two parties putting their hands in moral issues, and it’s forcing them to be involved.”

Finberg said aspirations of politicians are more important than actions, defining a difference between right and wrong moral codes when it comes to Trump’s past interactions. 

“The difference between the Republican Party and the progressive liberal party is that the liberal party is trying to accept things,” Finberg said. “The conservative party says, ‘No we want to hold conservative to true Judeo-Christian values’, and they might not reflect it. I don’t think Trump is the best Christian out there, but he obviously sees the importance and responsibility of conserving those values.”

For the event’s attendees, the overturn of Roe v. Wade solved the issue of abortion by putting it back in the hands of the states. Boone said it surprised him that the issue was such a large talking point this election cycle. 

“I was surprised at how big of an issue it was,” Boone said. “Because to me it’s not number one. This overturning of Roe v. Wade, out of 10 issues, is probably 15.”

Members of the Wake County GOP said this election would be less controversial than the election of Joe Biden in 2020. For Finberg, modern elections are always questionable due to the variance in state laws across the country, but admitted that he would accept the results. 

“I mean accepting results nowadays is kind of a questionable thing, just in general, where there always could have been and should have been,” Finberg said. “I think even if Kamala won, like very obviously, I think people would still be upset about that.”

Finberg compared the election to the Super Bowl, in which someone will be upset no matter the victor.

“Let’s say your favorite football team loses, you’re going to find a reason to be angry at the ref, at that one play on that one thing, but it doesn’t matter,” Finberg said. “The team won, it’s announced, the Super Bowl is given to them.”