Republican Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election left some local Hillary Clinton supporters stunned, but Democratic-leaning Southland elected officials tried to maintain a positive attitude Wednesday as they looked to the future.
“As a supporter of Secretary Clinton, this was a painful, even heartbreaking conclusion, but that is the way democracy works,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank. “We have a peaceful transition of power, and for those of us that got knocked down, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves of and live to fight another day.
We also do everything we can to make the country successful with its new president, to find common ground when we can, to energetically oppose him when we must, but always to work for the common good,” he said. “The country faces enormous challenges — both at home and abroad — and all Americans must now come together to lift up the country we all cherish.”
Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke at a Clinton election-night gathering in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night, trying to provide some optimism.
“Let me just speak for a moment from my heart, because I know for a lot of people tonight, your heart is heavy,” Garcetti said. “I know it is in the little girls who I talked to this morning who joined their mothers and fathers at the ballot box to try to change history. I know it’s in the faces and the conversations I’ve had with immigrants, who are so fearful about their future in this America.
Let me tell you, America is in this room tonight. Our America is right here. We’re an America that says each one of us has worth,” Garcetti said. “We’re an America that doesn’t ask you where you come from or what your religion is. We’re an America that doesn’t degrade you or insult you.”
Garcetti said he and other Democrats who supported Clinton “will stand up for who we are and what this campaign has represented” and show that “we can come together across those divisions.”
City Councilman Paul Koretz said Trump’s victory gave him pause.
“I’ll have to take a deep breath and think about what things will be like for a city in a Trump administration,” he said.
He called the prospect of a Trump presidency “pretty frightening,” but said he was encouraged that voters backed a $1.2 billion bond for homelessness and were narrowly approving another half-cent tax for transit and transportation projects.
“I think that’s particularly important because I don’t think the federal government is going to be giving us a lot of help, so we need to be self-reliant,” he said. “And that’s what these initiatives are about.
… It would certainly be better to get the federal help that we were hoping for too, but it makes these measures more important than ever,” Koretz said. “I think if we knew that we were going to wind up with a Trump administration, I think more people would have even voted for (Measures) M and HHH.”
Sue Dunlap, CEO of the Los Angeles chapter of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has been criticized by Trump and other Republicans, told Clinton supporters that Tuesday’s election results simply means they need to “roll our sleeves up and keep on working.”
“At Planned Parenthood, we know what it is to work hard,” she said. “We know that we don’t win and lose, but that we stand up each and every day and do hard work.”
Elizabeth Peterson, a 53-year-old Clinton campaign volunteer who works as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking students at Fontana High School, said Trump’s victory caught her off guard.
“We’re volunteers, and we started very early, so we were working very hard for months, so to see this — I mean this morning I was talking to people in North Carolina and Michigan and everything looked very good,” she said. “… This is a surprise. It’s really, really sad.”
She said Trump’s victory raises questions about the future of her students.
“I work in a high school in a low-income area and I know that there are a lot of my students who don’t have legal status, and they’re ready to go to college, and now I’m thinking ahead — What is going to happen to them next year?” she said. “Where are they going to be, now that their government is going to have their information, their family’s information? What is going to happen to them?”
Tuesday’s election results sparked some protests on University of California campuses, including UCLA and UC Irvine, and UC officials issued a statement saying they recognize the feelings of “consternation and uncertainty” among students.
“The University of California is proud of being a diverse and welcoming place for students, faculty and staff with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives,” according to a statement from UC President Janet Napolitano and the chancellors of UC campuses. “Diversity is central to our mission. We remain absolutely committed to supporting all members of our community and adhering to UC’s Principles Against Intolerance.
As the principles make clear, the university `strives to foster an environment in which all are included’ and `all are given an equal opportunity to learn and explore.’ The University of California will continue to pursue and protect these principles now and in the future, and urges our students, faculty, staff and all others assocaited with the university to do so as well.”
—City News Service