US election night in Times Square

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Last Updated on 24th July 2020

The US election night results. I didn’t stay up for the “Brexit” vote in my own country but couldn’t resist attempting to try to stay up in NYC having landed just a few hours earlier! So after dumping my suitcase in the hotel room I headed straight out to Times Square to see what was going on!

First reaction? Screens everywhere of course, but at this time most showed polls result and voting maps. Scrolling “News Alerts” flipped between PR mugshots of Clinton and Trump! One showed a bar chart with the magical figure ‘270’, the target for the potential winner. That target seemed a long way off at 8pm.

Where to stand? Times Square or near the candidates conference centres?

Having scoped out both ends of Times Square, ABC News not doing much on a raised stand at one end and the famous red steps at the other, I settled somewhere in the middle in front of the Jumbotron screen underneath the Marriott Marquis hotel.

The atmosphere was cheery and good-natured with more locals than tourists it seemed, many using the square’s red fold-up chairs and facing them all in the direction of that big screen. Apparently Clinton was at the nearby Javed conference center and Trump in one of New York’s larger Hilton hotels to accommodate his large contingent. Either way Times Square felt like the place to be!

Not so many street performers

Dressed up street performers seemed thin on the ground and instead many an odd character took the opportunity to entertain the crowd on election night! There was the tall black guy with bobbed hair camping it up singing Whitney Houston songs. Nearby was a jet black haired religious white guy dressed in red. He wandered around with a book with a mirrored cross on the front.

There was ‘The Obamanator’ – a guy dressed up like Obama, the young Hillary supporter who was attracting a lot of press attention, the 2 Brazilian guys in USA hats who were being “papped” constantly, the older Hispanic lady who whelped when the ‘254’ Trump result came in, but who was then instantly swarmed over by the press photographers. Not knowing whether to stop crying or continue for the cameras she went  with somewhere roughly in-between the two.

Of course there are many other things to do in NYC apart from standing in Times Square so make sure to check out these top 3 trips below 🙂

There were a LOT of press present for election night

Press taking photos of anything that moved, amateur photographers like me taking photographs of people holding up placards and everybody else taking “selfies” of all the goings-on! Every other 20 people seemed to be holding a foam-headed microphone.

Some connected to state of the art “proper” TV cameras, many instead connected by cable to an iPhone. Different broadcasters, different needs I guess! I was interviewed by the Times Square initiate on a “proper” camera but made it my only interview of election night. I imagine they didn’t use it anyway!

The crowd’s conversations were intelligent, the concerns in the crowd genuine, with many people hoping their friends/families “back home” in their home states would do the “right thing”. The realisation in the crowd of an imminent Trump victory felt more likely as the night went off. However there was still a feeling of “surely not”. Towards 1am (6am equivalent UK Time) I started to flag with the Trump score stuck on ‘254’. I wanted to be there for the collective gasp when the final ‘270’ election night vote came in.

So what was it like to be there on US election night?

Viewing all this in Times Square felt like the place to be! There were ample screens to stare at. Along with many places to sit down and lots of entertainment to help pass the time. Good luck America! I felt a tad weary as the time marched on but I’m glad I stayed for the first part of the proceedings anyway. Check out my subsequent post about attending a protest march up to Trump Tower!

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