For hours, the Donald Trump piñata had swayed softly and silently on a wire outside the headquarters of the Hidalgo County Democratic party, as predictions became results and hope turned to horror.
Around midnight, when it was obvious which way the wind was blowing, the model was smashed to reveal the candy inside. The ritual breaking took place with relish, but, in truth, brought little relief. On this night, the real Trump was indestructible. Not long after, his victory was confirmed.
Here in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, where counties are 90% Hispanic, heavily Democratic and hug the Mexican border in a geographic, cultural and familial embrace, Trump’s victory loomed as an alarming moment for many.
For the 50 or so party loyalists gathered in a room festooned with Clinton posters and paraphernalia in a strip mall north of downtown McAllen, the news that Texas had once again voted Republican barely registered beyond a brief groan when the networks called the result early on Tuesday evening.
That was predictable. But the news that a man who launched his campaign in June last year by pledging to build a giant border wall and describing some Mexican immigrants as “rapists” bringing “drugs” and “crime” was set to become their president was a far harder outcome to stomach.
“Shocked. Totally shocked,” said Sara Lopez, a 61-year-old farm labour contractor whose grandparents were from Mexico. “I didn’t realise there was that much hatred in the United States.”
Lopez fretted that a Trump-led immigration crackdown would have an adverse effect on the economy. “I know for a fact that in south Texas this is going to affect the agricultural industry. There’s not enough Americans that want to do that kind of job,” she said.
As for the much-touted wall? Could it happen? Would it work?
“Nah,” she said. “Mexicans would build a tunnel under, do a catapult over.”
Leslie Gower, a 60-year-old consultant, wondered what impact Trump’s blunt policies would have on a complex issue. “We’re almost like one culture here on the border, the movement is so fluid,” she said. “But then I see the border patrol, a lot of those guys were supporting Trump.”
JT Troche, a transgender military veteran, worried about LGBT rights in a Trump administration and whether his victory would embolden immigration law enforcement to be ruthless and racist without fear of consequences.
Statewide, buildup talk about Texas and its 38 electoral college votes turning purple, or even blue, proved fanciful. Still, on another night, Texas Democrats might have found reason for optimism in this deep-red state, one of very few where Democrats made tangible progress compared with four years ago.
With most votes counted, the gap between candidates in the presidential race was in single digits for the first time since 1996. A Democratic challenger, Kim Ogg, ousted a Republican incumbent, Devon Anderson, as district attorney in Harris County, which includes Houston.
Harris, only narrowly won by Barack Obama in 2012, leaned heavily towards Clinton. The next three biggest cities, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, remained blue, underlying Texas’s large rural-urban split. In Dallas, Clinton took 61% of the vote.
“You see pockets of success for Democrats,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston. “She has helped Texas Democrats to change some of the momentum statewide.”
Mario Garcia, a 61-year-old history teacher at the watch party who wore a badge with the slogan “This Bad Hombre Is Voting!”, said that Trump’s talk had boosted political awareness among Hispanic people in Texas.
“It was not a priority,” he said, “and then all of a sudden you heard Trump’s talk of deportation, of building a wall and insulting an entire race.”
Signs of demographic shifts and successful voter turnout operations are hints of what might one day be possible and may encourage future investments and effort in a state that was barely on the Clinton campaign’s radar. But all that was scant comfort given the national picture.
Just after 11.15pm at the watch party, the television was turned off and those who remained formed a circle, held hands, and bowed their heads in prayer. The prayer asked that the remaining uncounted ballots might converge “towards a victory for this country and for women, and not to go backwards”.
With the press of a button, the screen blinked back into life. A few seconds later, in front of a red, red map, an NBC analyst gave the latest update: Donald Trump had taken the lead in Pennsylvania.
