After what has been one of the most unpredictable and nerve-wracking election cycles to date, we finally know who the next president of the United States of America will be: a convicted felon with two impeachments to his name.
Donald Trump won reelection as the 47th American president early Wednesday morning. While this is not the outcome many around the country were hoping for, it has now become a reality. Fear. Anger. Grief. These are all valid feelings as you mourn what will be lost and what’s to come. But know that you are not alone.
Finding some light in the darkness, we rounded up assorted reactions from youth organizers and progressive politicians that offer just a little bit of hope during this difficult time.
Progressives called on the left to come together and to fight for the working class
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders said in a statement.
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and isolation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing?…Probably not.”
“In the coming weeks those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious political discussions,” Sanders concluded.
X content
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
“I’m not here to sugarcoat what we all are about to collectively experience, but I think that what we can do to prepare is build community,” Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday on an almost hourlong Instagram livestream.
“Our main project is to unite the working class in this country against a fascist agenda, period,” she said. “We have had an enormous setback in this election, because the fascist won a lot of working-class support, which has happened before in history.”
“We are about to enter a political period that will have consequences for the rest of our lives. We cannot give up,” Ocasio-Cortez noted.
Instagram content
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL)
Frost said the results made him feel “a sense of despair I haven't felt in a long time.”
Yet, he continued, “hope is a choice.”
“Though I did not wake up feeling hopeful today, now I choose hope. … Let's unite to build a movement that rejects the politics of scarcity and embraces one of abundance and love."
X content
Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and their family members issued messages of hope
VP Kamala Harris
In a concession speech at her alma mater, Howard University, Kamala Harris urged young people to remember they “have power.”
“To the young people who are watching, it is okay to feel sad and disappointed, but please know it’s going to be okay,” she said. “On the campaign, I would often say, when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, here’s the thing, sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is, don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place. You have power."
VP nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
“While the outcome is not what we wanted, I am grateful to the millions of Americans who joined our campaign and stood up for our greatest ideals: decency, compassion, and love of our neighbor,” Walz said. “Now more than ever, we need you to continue fighting for those values and the country we all love.”
X content
Harris' stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff
In an Instagram story, above a photo of herself crying at the concession speech, Emhoff said she had “no words.”
"We are all gonna get through this. It just f***ing hurts like a b****h right now and that's ok. The fight doesn't stop now. Just please check in on your people right now. This is the time to organize, mobilize, and make a difference in your communities big or small.
I'm here for all of you guys and I love you guys."
Youth organizers urged people to take a beat, but keep fighting
March for Our Lives
“Today’s loss is tomorrow’s fuel,” wrote March for Our Lives in a press release. “Trump’s victory puts our essential and fundamental freedoms in jeopardy, and that includes our right not to be shot. …To young people nationwide: It is okay to be sad, disheartened, and rightfully, pissed off. The future is uncertain, danger lurks, and challenges lie ahead. But we will not lose hope. We will not bow down. And we will not give up.”
Instagram content
The Sunrise Movement
The Sunrise Movement, a youth organization dedicated to stopping climate change, said in a press release: “Our fight continues. [We] launched in 2017, months after Trump’s first election. We were called Sunrise because of a belief that even in dark times, light returns.”
On X, Justice Democrats released a statement calling for Democratic leadership to take responsibility for allowing these results to occur on their watch.
X content
Future Coalition
Corryn G. Freeman is the executive director of Future Coalition, an organization that supports youth leaders across the United States. Freeman released a statement calling a second Trump presidency “a worst-case scenario.”
“This is an invitation to transmute our fear and anxiety into intentional action that relentlessly pursues transformational change,” Freeman wrote. “May our anger serve as the fuel required to unwaveringly commit to making our dreams of liberation a reality.”
IfNotNow
IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that opposes the war in Gaza, called Trump's win “an enormous boon for neo-Nazis and white nationalists in the US, and for Netanyahu and his fascist allies in Israel.”
The group's statement continued: "The coming period will call us all to a deep reckoning, but tradition teaches us that we must take time to lament our losses, before we can rise to act. So we spend this time in grief, in fear, in anger, in reaching for each other, and in drawing strength from the improbable survival of our ancestors. Then, we will rise."
Youth Vote Coalition
“Our work to educate, empower, and mobilize young people has always been about building a progressive movement that is larger than any single candidate or election year," the Youth Vote Coalition said in a statement. “Young people turned out this year, and we know our generation will continue to be a force for freedom, equity, and hope.”
Editor’s note: We will continue to update this post with reactions as they come in.
Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take
