Music boomed at Stereo Garden in Patchogue last night as hundreds of people gathered at the Suffolk Republicans’ watch party awaiting the results of the 2024 election.

The mood was optimistic throughout. Politicians, party committee members, business owners and other supporters drank and talked as they waited for returns to arrive after the polls closed at 9 p.m. Republicans won most of the races in Suffolk County. Incumbents of Congress Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino were ahead in polls; incumbents were strong favorites to retain their seats in the state House and Senate.

Drinks flowed from two bars, one in the back room and the other in the stage pit adorned with campaign signs. County election results were displayed on the back wall of the stage, and in the center of the stage was a speaker’s podium shaded by a red, white and blue sign that read “Suffolk is Trump Country.” At the end of the night, the county’s Republican Party boss said he was “very optimistic” that former president Donald Trump would defeat Vice President Kamala Harris and recapture the White House.

And so he did. Earlier this morning, Trump’s electoral vote tally surpassed the 270 needed to become the 47th president of the United States, and he won in each of the battleground states that pundits call the Democrats’ “blue wall.” Trump won a roughly 51% majority in the national popular vote; However, he did not achieve this majority when he won the presidency in 2016.

Suffolk County is definitely “Trump Country.” Trump won the county by a record margin of more than 400,000 votes for the third time this year. The district Barack Obama won easily just 12 years ago, and Joe Biden nearly broke with Trump in 2020 and went decidedly Republican.

Republican Chairman Jesse said, “Turning on Trump is how Suffolk County accepts the philosophies laid out in the 2023 county executive race about the importance of making Suffolk County (in this case, America) safer, more affordable and secure along our borders.” “It shows,” he said. Garcia said in an interview.

“I believe that with the Republican administration, we have been able to show by results and record of success that Donald Trump’s policies are and will be pro-New York, pro-Suffolk County. “What we need is a partner in the White House to make New York, and especially Suffolk, safer, more affordable and more secure,” Garcia said.

Both Trump and Harris consider the election to be the most important in a generation, if not the country’s history. Those who attended Tuesday night’s watch party hoping for a Trump victory echoed that sentiment. In interviews, they said the future of the U.S. economy, politics and presence on the world stage was at stake.

“It’s a choice between two paths, the path of our founding fathers: the path of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or the failed policies of socialism, progressive policies — (or) the path of Democrat policies that make us less safe, less secure.” It’s safe here and it’s less affordable,” Garcia said. “That’s the choice that not only the voters in Suffolk, Long Island, New York, but the voters of the country had to make today. And I think they chose wisely.”

As people feel, high inflation and price increases on groceries and all kinds of consumer goods, as well as interest rate increases used by the Federal Reserve in an attempt to slow spending and control inflation, have proven to be major economic problems during the 2024 campaign. the pain of rising costs. Trump has said he wants to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15% from the current 21%; rolling back income tax increases on wealthy earners; Exempt income from tips, Social Security, and overtime from income taxes; and greatly increase tariffs on foreign goods to generate revenue for the federal treasury.

The economy was the most important issue of the voters participating in this election. Pew Research Centerand it was a major reason why some party participants voted for Trump and the Republican candidates.

“I believe that our generation, millennials and young people, we certainly face a challenge in the economy when it comes to housing affordability, buying food, meeting daily needs. ” said Jacob Bloom, 27, of Blue Point. Bloom and his fiancée, Moxi Szodfridt, 27, are attorneys and said the election results will affect their ability to buy a home and raise a family on Long Island.

“The country is definitely a turning point, isn’t it? “We are more divided than ever,” Bloom said. “So I think this is definitely one of the most important elections we’ve seen in our lifetime. “I hope whoever wins can unite the country to some degree and repair some of the damage that has been done over the last few decades.”

James Marci, a 22-year-old substitute teacher from Port Jefferson who volunteered with LaLota’s campaign, said his support for Republicans comes from the party’s desire to create a more affordable and safer Long Island.

“I just graduated from college and I know a lot of people who are planning to leave Long Island and New York because they find it too expensive, and I hate to see that because I love where I live,” Marci said. “I hope these legislators can put in place policies that will make it easier for young people to stay here on the island.”

State Sen. Anthony Palumbo said he thought “people are frustrated with prices and inflation.” They are worried about the border. They are interested in whether we can afford to support a group of immigrants coming into this country unchecked. “I mean, there are many layers to this,” he said. “So I think people want change, and I think that’s the real movement.”

“Everybody knows Donald Trump definitely has his own nuance — for lack of a better term — but you know, I think he gets a lot of votes,” Palumbo said. “It seems like it’s shaping up to be a really good night, because they’re really tired of what’s going on economically and the immigration issues.”

Immigration, particularly activity at the southern border, was consistently raised as an important issue by participants. For Republican voters, immigration ranked second to the economy as the most important issue in the election, according to the Pew Research Center. During his campaign, Trump promised to build detention camps, mass deportations and increase border security.

John Kocaman, 24, of Ronkonkoma, believes that if Republicans don’t win the election, Democrats will let people “come across the border and give them the right to vote.” “They will vote for Democrats.”

Kocaman, whose family immigrated from Turkey to the United States when he was a child, said, “If the Republicans cannot win tonight, we will probably never see a Republican again.”

“I came here legally. My family won the lottery system,” he said. “And when people are crossing that border, it’s not fair to the people who worked their whole lives to get here the right way, it’s not fair to take taxpayer money, considering the people who come here and get subsidies “So I feel like it’s at risk.”

Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio of Baiting Hollow, who won her third term Tuesday, said she is concerned about national defense.

“I really think a lot of things are happening in other countries that surround us, and the United States has always been the superpower that people turn to when they need help,” Giglio said. “And I feel like some of our strongest allies have been abandoned and not helped to the point they should have been. And I feel like there’s a lot of conflict around us, around the United States.”

“And I think the United States is very weak right now in terms of our economic and military strength, and I think it’s important that we build that support,” he said.

For others, like House candidate and Mattituck lawyer Stephen Kiely, the election was a referendum on national identity.

“There are two paths you want to take with America. Do you want to preserve traditional values, conservative values, (a) Judeo-Christian country? Or do you want to return to a more progressive and globalist country? I think that’s the real question,” Kiely said.

As the night progressed, Garcia and the Republican candidates took the stage to celebrate their victory. At 01:00, the participants left the hall. As people exited the Stereo Garden and walked back to their cars, they could hear the chorus of a song echoing through the night air: “The Final Countdown.”