SEATTLE — The Washington State Democrats election night watch party on Tuesday was filled with big wins across the state and big hopes for Kamala Harris in the national race. But late into the evening, Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump made a significant lead.
"So I went to bed pretty much knowing that we were going to be up for a second Trump presidency," said Michele Storms, the executive director of ACLU of Washington.
By Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris was delivering her concession speech for the presidential race.
"Obviously, it is not how we hoped things would go. We worked our tails off to ensure a Harris win," said Stephen Reed, the director of communications for Washington State Democrats.
Washington Democrats say national and local races had them knocking on 248,000 doors and making more than 1 million phone calls to ensure people knew how and where to vote.
"We need to redouble our efforts to rebuild our coalition and show the American people just what we have to offer,” said Reed.
"For us it is not about a partisan issue. It is about what each administration would stand for in terms of the rights and liberties of our community,” said Storms.
Storms adds that the first Trump presidency raised legal concerns for the ACLU.
"There were hundreds of lawsuits challenging actions that the Trump administration took, many of them were focused around the Muslim travel ban,” said Storms.
After election night, her focus now is on the future.
"There has been a great deal of political division and we would hope for that to go away,” said Storms.