Muslim Americans in Dearborn, Michigan, gathered to watch this year's critical presidential poll, and say they’re surprised and dismayed by the national results.
Among the viewers was Michigan state representative and Democrat Abdullah Hammoud, who routed his Republican opponent. He told VOA he's glad he won, but:
"It's a strange contrast, right, for the first time in Dearborn's history they've elected an Arab American Muslim, first generation, and at the statewide level we may be supporting Trump, and at the national level, a Trump presidency. Trump has run on racism and bigotry – he's monetized it in fact – in exchange for votes, and we see the results of which on TV. And it's a scary thought. It's scary that I was with my family earlier today and I was celebrating and tomorrow I may wake up and speak to my mother and my sister who wear the hijab and tell them to be careful when they leave outside the front door."
Asha Noor, an advocacy specialist with community group ACCESS, said: "These are honestly scary times, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It just means that we need to be well aware of the issues we are going to be facing throughout this presidency meaning that we need be politically active, we need to air our grievances, and we need to make sure that within the next four years, we are not put in a position like this again."
Associated Press projects Republicans Roy Blunt of Missouri and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska win re-election to the Senate.
Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta says the Democratic nominee will not speak to the country Wednesday morning.
“Well, folks, I know you’ve been here a long time, and it’s been a long night, and it’s been a long t—uh, campaign. But I can say, uh, we can wait a little longer, can’t we? They’re still counting votes and every vote should count. Several states are too close to call, so we’re not going to have anything more to say tonight. So listen, listen to me, everybody should head home, you should get some sleep, we’ll have more to say tomorrow."
