Trump wins: What Oxford voters had to say at the polls

Donald Trump has once again won the presidency.

The Associated Press, which called the race on Wednesday morning, wrote that the win for the former president, now president-elect, was “an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.”

When President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020, Trump repeatedly made false claims that the election was stolen, a claim he continued to make throughout the 2024 campaign cycle. Leading up to Election Day Nov. 5, Trump and his allies claimed without evidence that Democrats were fighting to steal the 2024 election.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, Trump has “promised sweeping action” in his second term. Among Trump’s proposals, he has repeatedly promised to begin the “largest deportation in U.S. history” on his first day in office. Immigration was a central theme during his campaign. Trump has also proposed tariffs of at least 10-20% on all foreign goods.

Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, who grew up in Butler County, have also proposed eliminating the federal Department of Education and reducing the roles of other regulatory agencies while expanding executive branch power and influence.

Here’s what some Oxford residents had to say about the election as they headed to the polls on Nov. 5.

Voters anxious and motivated on Election Day

When David Howard prepared to cast his vote today, he didn't head straight to his polling location at Talawanda Middle School. Instead, he went to Oxford Seniors.

For years, Oxford Seniors has offered an election day shuttle service to older voters in Oxford. Howard has been voting for decades, but he only moved from Hamilton to Oxford three years ago, so this year marks his first presidential election using the shuttle service to get to the polls.

Several issues were top of mind for Howard as he cast his vote for former President Donald Trump, including the economy, undocumented immigration and foreign policy. Howard said he thought the war between Israel and Hamas would be handled better under a Republican president, and he pointed to high numbers of illegal border crossings under President Joe Biden as a key reason he doesn't support Vice President Kamala Harris.

"I just want the country to come together and not be divided like it is right now," Howard said. "[Trump] is unpopular because he speaks the truth, I think. [Biden and Harris] opened that border."

Howard also voted for Republican Bernie Moreno in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, saying incumbent Sherrod Brown, who has held his seat since 2007, should be subject to term limits. Moreno won the state with roughly 50.3% of the vote to Moreno’s 46.3%.

Chris Quimby has been a driver for Oxford Seniors for 17 years and helps with the organization's Election Day shuttle service. She said it hasn't seen as much use since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when mail-in voting became more popular.

Quimby doesn't talk politics or religion with her passengers, but she said she could feel the stress from voters this morning.

"I have noticed a lot of anxiety between what is pushed on TV, what's drilled into your head from phone calls, emails, text," Quimby said. This year, campaign spending for advertisements surpassed $10 billion, according to reporting from NPR.

Ellen Price, a retired Miami University faculty member, handed out Yes on Issue 1 pamphlets to voters at Talawanda Middle School from 9-11 a.m. Issue 1, Ohio's only statewide ballot initiative this year, would have overhauled the state redistricting process and created a citizen redistricting commission. The initiative, broadly supported by Democrats and opposed by Republicans, was defeated with roughly 54% of the state voting against it.

"The distribution of the legislature should reflect the distribution of the voters," Price said, "and with gerrymandering, it does not."

The ballot language for Issue 1, approved by Republicans along party lines on the Ohio Ballot Board, stated that the amendment would have "repeal[ed] constitutional protections against gerrymandering" and that the citizen commission would have been "required to gerrymander" the state legislative maps. Issue 1 supporters argued that the ballot language is intentionally misleading, a sentiment Price shared.

In Reily Township, volunteer Margarette Beckwith passed out flyers listing the Democratic candidates to interested voters. She's volunteered in Reily Township during elections before and said the turnout had been higher than the other elections she's worked at.

"You see so many signs, particularly for Trump, and I think that this outlying area maybe is a little bit leaning more toward the Republicans," Beckwith said. She personally voted early so she would have time to volunteer, as did Price.

Barb Seeley, a Reily Township resident for the past 25 years, cast her ballot for the Republican candidates, but the presidency wasn't her biggest motivating race. In the 47th District of Ohio's State House, two pastors, Democrat Vanessa Cummings and Republican Diane Mullins, are running against each other. Seeley knows Mullins personally and was excited to vote for her.

Seeley said she hasn't been listening to a lot of television in the past few years because she's fed up with the negativity of the news cycle. Usually, she stays up late to watch the election results roll in on election night, but she gets up at 5 a.m. each morning and wasn't sure if she'd stay up late this year

Cindy, an Oxford voter who asked to be identified by first name only, voted for Harris along with her husband at Talawanda Middle School. She said they were nervous this summer after Biden's disastrous debate performance, but after he dropped out, she was excited to support Harris.

Like Seeley, Cindy said she and her husband are trying not to watch too much TV to limit their stress during this election cycle. She voted yes on Issue 1 and on Issue 2, a local ballot initiative which would create a levy to increase funding for the Oxford Fire Department.

"You hear the sirens all the time, and they need more help," Cindy said.

Oxford resident James Pittman cast his ballot for Harris at the middle school, as well. Pittman has been voting for Democrats for "quite a few years," he said, and he was ready for a post-Trump political landscape.

"[I'm hoping] that Trump isn't gonna win, that it all ends," Pittman said. "Its important uniting everybody, as opposed to making up stories."

Votes are still being tallied in several states, but Trump is expected to win every swing state, increasing his electoral vote to 312 from his previous high of 304 in 2016.