![Ken Craft sported a Donald Trump costume at a GOP election night watch party in Cumming. “We are thrilled,” Craft said of Trump's election victory. “The basic issues that [Trump] talked about from the beginning — the economy, immigration and safety — just cut across all demographic groups all over the country.” (Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)](https://www.ajc.com/resizer/v2/3N5RRFXT3EOIYU2ICYED6Q2REQ.jpg?auth=fb40d3f66fd43e66e0e196c498e3a8dd36774be3878ea2857f0dd97fd9b51627&width=1600&height=900&smart=true)
Ken Craft celebrated at an election night watch party in Cumming wearing a bright orange-striped safety vest and a huge Donald Trump mask. To make sure his friends got the joke, Craft hoisted a bulging white trash bag, an unmistakable reference to Trump campaigning recently in a garbage truck.
Fellow Republicans paused to admire Craft’s cheeky costume before shifting their attention back to the television sets tuned to Fox News at Crooked Culture Brewing. Each time another state was called in Trump’s favor in the presidential race, the partygoers cheered excitedly. Their giddiness became more palpable as the night wore on.
The election was still undecided when Craft headed home, so he stayed up watching television news into early Wednesday morning. Finally, newscasters announced Trump would indeed return to the White House. For Craft and other Trump supporters, his victory is confirmation that bread and butter issues are crucial.
“We are thrilled,” said Craft, a retired business executive who has voted for Trump in each of the last three presidential elections. “The basic issues that [Trump] talked about from the beginning — the economy, immigration and safety — just cut across all demographic groups all over the country.”
Craft added: “I hope the country reunites behind this.”
The party Craft attended was in Forsyth County, a heavily Republican exurb north of Atlanta where Trump needed a strong showing if he hoped to win Georgia. Unofficial returns showed him winning about two out of every three ballots cast.
Hosted by Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, the gathering featured a life-size Trump cutout. Partygoers posed for photos beside it as Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal grabbed a microphone and revved up the crowd: “I’ve got one question: Is anybody here tonight ready to send Kamala Harris back to California?”
Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Megan Kenney, a university student and waitress from Cumming, also joined the party, sporting a camouflage baseball cap declaring: “Jesus Is My Savior. Trump is my President.” She underscored the importance of border security and her Christian faith.
“Above all, I am going to vote with the Bible and with what God says,” she said. “I feel very strongly about freedom of speech and secure borders. I want to be able to afford housing. I want to be able to send my children to school and not worry about them being indoctrinated.”
“There is a space for everybody,” she added about immigration, “but there is also a legal process that should be upheld in the same way it is in every other country.”
David Currie arrived Tuesday night in a T-shirt bearing Trump’s Fulton County Jail mug shot and the slogan: “Never Surrender.” He referred to efforts to prosecute and assassinate Trump, saying: “People are after him.”
“The amount of people who are after him says that there are a whole lot of corrupt people out there who don’t want somebody to drain the swamp,” said Currie, a retired software industry project manager from Gainesville. “He’s a fighter. He is strong.”
Like Craft and Kenney, Currie said the economy and border security influenced his decision to vote for Trump.
“As far as I am concerned,” he said, “we have got to close the border to everything until we get it under control.”
Fellow partygoer Kyle Robbins, a utility inspector from Cumming, predicted a Trump victory could mean “we have a chance to reverse a lot of problems, like the issues with the border, the economy, issues with our schools and all the stuff they are pushing there.”
Lori Ciminelli, a retired health care industry worker from Cumming, headed home from the party before the election was decided and prayed for good news. She learned of Trump’s victory when she woke up Wednesday morning and searched the internet.
“I have been on the phone with all my friends, honestly,” she said. “We are very excited.”
Harris, Ciminelli added, “did not represent the middle class.”
“People underestimate the silent majority, the middle class and grassroots,” she said. “Really, in history, the grassroots are what really change our country.”
Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Elsewhere, Georgia transplants also cheered Trump’s win. Among them was Michelle “Buttercup” Davis, a longtime philanthropist from Atlanta who now lives in Palm Beach. Trump, she predicted, will help boost the economy and border security. She called his victory “pure bliss and happiness.”
Davis said she attended an election watch event that featured revelers dressed in Trump-themed clothes and hats. As the night went on, she said, “Everyone grew happier and happier.”
“We were on pins and needles at the beginning, and as he would win a state,” she said, “we would jump up and scream.”
