Clark County Republican Party celebrates election night with their own party

Joe Kent reminded his supporters to keep their spirits high at the Clark County Republican Party Election Night Watch Party on Tuesday. Early results have Kent behind in the race for the 3rd Congressional District seat, but there were plenty of ballots left to count. Photo by Paul Valencia

Republican leaders and candidates say elections are a way for Americans to celebrate freedom

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

It was a night to celebrate — win or lose.

That was one of the messages Tuesday at the Clark County Republican Party Election Night Watch Party.

“It’s a great American tradition,” John Ley said. “The American people get to speak. They have a voice that gets to be heard all across the country. I’m just looking forward to seeing the verdict of the people of our state, here in the 18th District, and all the races we care so passionately about.”

Ley gave those words around 7 p.m., an hour before he saw any results from his race. Ley is running for State Representative Position 2 out of the 18th Legislative District.

Liz Cline and John Ley celebrate early returns Tuesday at the Clark County Republican Party Election Night Watch Party. Ley had a small lead for State Representative Position 2 out of the 18th Legislative District. Ley noted he was not celebrating a victory, just enjoying election night festivities. Photo by Paul Valencia

“I’ve been coming to these parties since I was a kid,” said Brad Benton, who is running for the 18th Legislative District Senator. “My dad was in politics for a long time. (Elections) are always exciting because they represent our democracy in action.”

Those were his words at 7:40 p.m.

Lucia Worthington, the Republican candidate for State Senator in the 49th Legislative District, had already seen early results of her campaign when she spoke about the value of elections.

“To me, it’s freedom. Elections mean freedom,” Worthington said.

Worthington was facing a tough challenge, and the initial results did, indeed, show her way behind her opponent, Annette Cleveland.

That did not change Worthington’s opinion of democracy in action.

“It means that our government works,” said Worthington, an immigrant who never takes elections for granted. “This is one of the best nights of the year. I’m very pleased to see so much activity.”

Clark County Today was given access to the floor of the Election Night Party and was able to observe as GOP leaders and supporters heard reports from around the country, and then from around the state and the county. There was a buzz as President Trump kept being named the winner of battleground state after battleground state. Chants of “USA! USA!” broke out more than once.

The Clark County Republican Party held an Election Night Watch Party at the Cloverlane Event Center in Hockinson. Photo by Paul Valencia

Gil Frazier of Vancouver said he has been following Joe Kent and his campaign for the 3rd Congressional District for more than a year. Frazier had tried to go to one of his campaign events, but couldn’t work it out with his schedule. So he jumped at the chance to come to the Election Night Party.

“Election night is a time that should be important for everybody. This is one of the few chances that you get to voice your concerns and have them not fall on deaf ears,” Frazier said. “You get to express what you care about, what you want for your community, your city, county, state, country.”

Skyler Martin grew up in Vancouver, excelling on the football field in high school. After college, he returned to Vancouver. He and his wife are raising a family. He was thrilled to be supporting the GOP at Tuesday’s event.

“I’m a conservative, and I believe this is the direction that I want the country to go. I want to raise my family with these kinds of values,” Martin said. “I’m supporting the local candidates as well as Donald Trump as President. I’m here with my family and just hoping to celebrate the night.”

This was the second presidential election that Martin, 25, has been able to participate in as a voter.

“My hope is not in the president. I’m a Christian. My hope is in Christ. But nonetheless, I still want to see as close to biblical values as we can get going forward. Election night is, hopefully, a celebration of moving closer to that.”

It was a whirlwind few hours at the GOP election night party at the Cloverlane Event Center in Hockinson, with the national results and then the initial results from the state of Washington.

Here is what some of the candidates and party leaders said as the night progressed Tuesday.

7:11 p.m.:

“All of the hard work that our board and our PCOs and volunteers have done the last two years, it comes down to this,” said Matthew Bumala, the chair of the Clark County Republican Party. “So people have been asking how I’m feeling. I stole this from something I saw today: I’m ‘nauseously optimistic.’ I feel good, but I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch.”

7:34 p.m.:

Bumala welcomed supporters to the watch party.

He also said he was not trying to get people’s hopes up because “we endured 2020 and saw what happened.”

But he couldn’t resist. He noted that the Drudge Report, which “turned” against President Trump three years ago, reported that Trump has an 81-percent chance to win the White House. That bought a cheer from the crowd.

7:40 p.m.:

Brad Benton recalled what it was like being the son of a candidate and now being a candidate himself. Again, he has been coming to these election night parties pretty much all of his life.

“How exciting it can be when you win, how soul-crushing it can be when you lose,” Benton said.”It’s very interesting to be on the other end of it, when you’re the candidate and it’s your name on the ballot.

“I’m extremely excited, extremely blessed to have all the support from the people. We’ve worked very hard, and I’m proud of that. To use a sports analogy, we left everything on the field.”

7:54 p.m.:

First, Bumala gave some news that he knew the crowd would appreciate..

“The New York Times just said there is an 87 percent chance that Trump is going to win,” he said to a roar.

Then he broke some tough news to the crowd … or did he?

“Joe Kent might not make it tonight,” he said.
“What?” a woman yelled.

Then he asked the crowd to react again, while he was taking a video. Bumala explained that Kent was running late because there was a line of people still waiting to vote in downtown Vancouver, and Kent was there with them, asking them to be patient, to stay in line, to vote.

His supporters in Hockinson accepted that as a good reason to be late for the party.

8:16 p.m.:

“The New York Times is now not only predicting that Donald Trump is going to win, they’re predicting he’s going to win the popular vote as well,” Bumala told the crowd.

9:01 p.m.:

Bumala took to the stage again after the latest release from Washington’s Secretary of State, tallies for the race for the 3rd Congressional District.

“Those are early voting numbers. Still a lot of ballots. It is a close race. It ain’t over at all,” Bumala said.

“Trump is doing very, very, very good. All indications are showing he is going to win,” Bumala added.

He then asked a friend to say a prayer for the candidates and for the country.

After the prayer, Bumala asked for a round of applause for PCOs, the executive board, and party volunteers.

9:26 p.m.:

Bumala to the stage again. “It looks like it’s official. The Republicans have taken over the U.S. Senate. We have a majority. … That’s a reason to celebrate.”

9:33 p.m.:

Joe Kent arrived at the Cloverlane Event Center. Before entering the building, he shared his thoughts on election night.

“It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work by the team we put together. I appreciate everybody’s hard work,” Kent said.

9:39 p.m.:

Joe Kent takes the stage.

“Thank you so much for being out here and all the support,” he said, adding that he thinks he has been campaigning for 1,360 days. “Thank all of you for being on the ride with us so far.”

He noted that while the initial numbers show that he is behind, he still thought there was a chance with the later ballots.

Plus he told his supporters not to make it too late of a night because they might have to cure ballots on Wednesday.

9:42 p.m.:

Brad Benton learned about an hour earlier that he was trailing in his race by a little more than 1,100 votes.

“With the amount of work that we put in, it’s not quite what I anticipated. But, if you look at history, … those late Republican votes are going to come in. I think this year, especially, they are going to come in pretty aggressively and propel us over the finish line. I’m optimistic. We’re still in this, for sure.”

9:55 p.m.:

John Ley was up 222 votes in his campaign.

“I’m ecstatic to be here amongst a great group of supporters and wonderful fans,” Ley said, noting how fun it has been to watch the results for President Trump all night.

As far as his race …

“I’m a little bit ahead. I thank the voters for that. I am cautiously optimistic. But clearly, with (thousands) of votes left to be counted, it’s in the hands of the people. And I respect that absolutely,” Ley said.

“One way or the other, I look forward to continuing to represent the people. I will find a way to fight for what’s right, to do the right thing. Whether it is writing articles and sharing information on what government is or isn’t doing, or going to Olympia and representing the people, I’m going to keep serving.”

10:03 p.m.:

Bumala gave an assessment of election night to that point.

“The energy has been electric. Everybody is excited. There’s a lot of things to celebrate tonight. Trump, it looks like, he’s going to win. We have a big win there,” Bumala said.

He noted several local races with Republicans in the lead or with a chance to take the lead.

“We’ve seen some good wins and some optimism,” Bumala said.