By Jonathan Moniz, Staff Writer
As of roughly 2 a.m. early Wednesday morning, Americans nationwide cast their votes and the polls closed, with Donald J. Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States of America.
Winning with over 278 electoral votes, and 59,029,912 votes, President-elect Trump defeated his opponent and rival Hillary Clinton who garnered 218 votes and 59,166,405 votes. He is the second Republican to be elected for the newest century, after George W. Bush.
Clinton campaign aide Huma Abedin called Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to arrange a call between the two, and Clinton herself called Trump shortly after the results had come in to concede the election and congratulate him on his campaign.
President Obama also called Trump this morning to congratulate him on his victory and to also begin smoothing the path for his transition in the White House, establishing the first building blocks that would ensure a peaceful and efficient transition of power.
He also made another call to Clinton this morning, giving her congratulations on her campaign and the way she had run over the past election season.
As the polls had come in and the majority had tipped over to Trump’s campaign, Clinton campaign manager John Podesta went out and announced to the people assembled there to go home and get some sleep, but that “she’s not done yet.”
Trump supporters celebrated long into the night as the results came in and announced their candidate’s victory. The swing states that largely cast the election for Trump were Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida; they tipped the balance of the election in Trump’s favor.
Massachusetts had voted for Clinton 61 percent to 33.4 percent, but that lead did not translate over to national polls. Many polls had predicted Clinton’s victory by a close margin, even in account for the FBI’s emails and also Trump’s sexual assault scandals.
Gabriel Gray, a senior medical lab science and philosophy major, had also predicted Clinton’s win, but noted that “the FBI letter had hurt her lead.”
A senior marketing major, Michelle Hurwitz, noted this being her first time to vote and was motivated by her family as to the importance, with the ballot questions and the candidates. However, she was embarrassed by the campaign season, with too much “trash talking, acting like kids, and how it was kind of embarrassing.”
She did, however, stress the importance of voting as to influence the political process.
With nine house seats open for re-election, those were on the ballot as well for the districts.
Democratic candidates Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Niki Tsongas, Joe Kennedy, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Mike Capuano, Stephen Lynch, and Bill Keating managed to secure the seats.
There were also four referendum questions on the ballots, with Question 1 concerning the state gaming commission and an additional slots license, Question 2 to approve 12 new charter schools, Question 3 being to prohibit farm equipment that does not meet a minimum size requirement, and Question 4 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Question 1 was rejected 61% percent to 39 percent, allowing no changes to be made to current laws regarding gaming. Question 2 was also rejected 62 percent to 38 percent, with no further schools to be opened up. Question 3 was approved 78 percent to 22 percent, allowing for regulations on pens to insure minimum space requirements. Question 4 was approved 54 percent to 46 percent, for the legalization of recreational marijuana.
President Obama will be in office until Friday, January 20, in which Donald J. Trump will officially take over as the next President of the United States.