Inside the Suffolk County GOP’s election night watch party

Music blasted inside the Stereo Garden in Patchogue, as hundreds gathered for Suffolk Republicans’ watch party last night, awaiting the results of the 2024 election. 

The mood was upbeat from the start. Politicians, party committee members, business owners and other supporters drank and talked, anticipating returns coming in after the polls closed at 9 o’clock. Republicans were favored to win most of the races on the ballot in Suffolk County. Incumbent members of Congress Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino were ahead in public surveys; incumbents were strong favorites to retain their seats in the State Assembly and Senate.

Drinks flowed at two bars — one located in the back room and one in the pit of the stage, which was adorned with campaign signs. The back wall of the stage displayed county election results and, at center stage, was a speaker’s podium eclipsed by a red, white and blue sign proclaiming: “Suffolk is Trump Country.” By 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 re-take the White House.

And he did. Early this morning, Trump’s electoral vote count topped the 270 needed to be elected the 47th president of the United States, victorious in each of the battleground states comprising what pundits called the Democrats’ “blue wall.” Trump won a roughly 51% majority in the national popular vote, a majority he failed to capture when he won the presidency in 2016.

Suffolk County certainly is “Trump Country.” Trump won the county for the third time this year with more than 400,000 votes — a record number. The county Barack Obama won handily just 12 years ago, and Joe Biden almost split with Trump in 2020, went decisively to Republicans.

The turnout for Trump “demonstrates how Suffolk County recognizes that the philosophies that were laid out in the 2023 county executive race about the importance of making Suffolk County, in this case America, safer, more affordable and secure through our borders,” Republican Chairman Jesse Garcia said in an interview.

“I believe we’ve been able to demonstrate, with Republican governance, to articulate with results and a record of accomplishments, that the policies of Donald Trump are ones that are pro-New York, pro-Suffolk County, and that he will be a partner in the White House that we need to make New York, and Suffolk specifically, safer, more affordable and secure,” Garcia added.

Both Trump and Harris cast the election as the most consequential in a generation — if not in the country’s history. Attendees at 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 were at stake.

“This is a choice of two paths, the path of our founding fathers: of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or that of failed policies of socialism, progressive policies — [or] Democrat policies that have made us less safe, less secure and less affordable here,” Garcia said. “That was the choice that the voters of, not only Suffolk, Long Island, New York, but the country had to make today. And I think they chose wisely.”

High inflation and price increases for groceries and all types of consumer goods — as well as the interest rate increases the Federal Reserve has used in an effort to slow spending and control inflation — proved to be crucial economic issues during the 2024 campaign, as people felt the pain of rising costs. Trump has said he wants to lower the corporate income tax rate to 15% from the current 21%; roll back income tax hikes on wealthy earners; exempt income earned from tips, Social Security and overtime from income taxes; and drastically increase tariffs on foreign goods to generate revenues for the federal treasury.

The economy was the top issue for voters going into this election, according to the Pew Research Center, and it was a key reason why some attendees at the party voted for Trump and Republican candidates.

“I believe that everyone, our generation, millennials and younger, we’re definitely faced with a tough task right now in the economy when it comes to affordability of homes, when it comes to affording groceries, when it comes to affording daily necessities,” said Jacob Bloom, 27, of Blue Point. Bloom and his fiancée, Moxi Szodfridt, 27, are both attorneys and said the election results will affect their ability to buy a house and start a family on Long Island.

“The country is definitely an inflection point, right? We’re more divided than ever,” Bloom said. “So I definitely think that this is one of the most consequential elections that we’ve seen, definitely in our lifetime. I would hope that whoever wins … could unify the country to some extent, and repair certain damages that have been made over the past couple decades.”

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

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

State Senator Anthony Palumbo said he thinks “people are frustrated with the prices, with inflation. They’re concerned with the border. They’re concerned with whether or not we can even afford to support a bunch of immigrants who come into this country, unvetted. I mean, there are a lot of layers to that,” he said. “So I think people want change, and I think that’s really the movement.” 

“Everyone knows Donald Trump certainly has his nuance — for lack of a better term — but, you know, I think he’s getting a lot of the vote,” Palumbo said. “It looks like he’s really on his way to having a good night, because they’re really tired of what’s going on economically and with the migrant issues.”

Immigration was consistently raised as a major issue by attendees, specifically activity at the southern border. For Republican voters, immigration was second only to the economy as a top issue in the election, according to the Pew Research Center. Trump promised during his campaign to build detention camps, implement mass deportations and bolster border security.  

John Kocaman, 24, of Ronkonkoma, believes that if Republicans don’t win the election, Democrats are going to let people through “the border and give them the right to vote. They’re gonna vote for Democrats.” 

“If the Republicans do not win tonight, we will probably not see another Republican in office again,” said Kocaman, whose family immigrated to the United States from Turkey when he was a child.

“I came here legally. My family won the lottery system,” he said. “And as people come over that border, it’s unfair for people that work their entire life to get here the right way, considering people that are coming here and getting money benefits, taking away money from taxpayers is unfair. So I feel like that’s at a risk.”

Assembly Member Jodi Giglio of Baiting Hollow, who won her third term on Tuesday, said she was worried about the national defense.

“I really think that there’s a lot that’s happening in other countries surrounding us, and the United States has always been the superpower that people have turned 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 that they should be. And I feel like there’s a lot of conflict around us, around the United States.”

“And I feel like the United States is very weak right now in our economic power and in our military power, and I think that it’s important that we build that back up,” she said.

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

“You have two ways you want to go with America. Do you want to keep traditional values, conservative values, [a] Judeo-Christian country? Or do you want to pivot to a more progressive and globalistic country? I think that’s the major question,” Kiely said.

As the night went on, Garcia and the Republican candidates took the stage to celebrate their victories. Attendees trickled out of the venue as 1 a.m. approached. People exiting the Stereo Garden and walking back to their cars could hear the chorus of one song on repeat, echoing in the night air: “The Final Countdown.”