Saad Tawfeeq was at the statewide Democratic watch party at the Indianapolis Convention Center on election night when he realized Hillary Clinton was not going to be the country’s next president.
“I’m in shock,” Tawfeeq said. “I’m a little bit sad.”
Tawfeeq is a volunteer and fellow with the Clinton campaign. He is also an Iraqi immigrant who came to the United States in 2009 to seek a better life.
Tawfeeq said he saw his friends and girlfriend killed in an explosion right in front of him in Baghdad, which led him and his family to flee the country in 2003. The family moved to Jordan in 2004, Egypt in 2005 before finally settling in the U.S. in 2009.
The U.S. is his dream home country, Tawfeeq said. When he obtained his visa, he said it was “like sugar in my mouth.”
Tawfeeq said he loves the Democratic Party, and his favorite people are Clinton and Andre Carson.
Since he started volunteering for the Clinton campaign in November 2015, Tawfeeq has volunteered at least eight hours a day and made more than 15,000 phone calls on behalf of the former Democratic presidential candidate.
The Clinton campaign volunteers were like a family, he said. Tawfeeq said he gained two adoptive mothers from working with the campaign. Though Taweeq is Muslim and both of his adoptive mothers are Jewish, he said this is not a problem and it illustrates the love felt by everyone in the Democratic Party.
“They are both like a diamond to me,” Tawfeeq said about his adoptive mothers.
The Clinton campaign’s motto, “Stronger together,” is reflected in his adoptive family, he said.
However, now that Donald Trump is the president-elect of the U.S., Tawfeeq said he only feels more willing to fight for freedom.
“I love this country,” he said. “God bless America. America will never ever go down.”
Nevertheless, Tawfeeq said he understands the results of the election are final.
“What is done is done,” Tawfeeq said. “This is what democracy is. I will give my loyalty to any president.”
Tawfeeq is currently on the waitlist for a transplant because of his kidney disease. Until he receives one, he goes to a doctor’s office three times a week for kidney dialysis. Many of the other patients are Republicans, he said. But, he said none of them have discriminated against him because of his religion or immigrant status.
The day after the election Tawfeeq was at the doctor’s office when a man approached him. The man, a Trump supporter, shook Tawfeeq’s hand and said, “I just want to tell you one thing — we are all Americans.”
Tawfeeq said the man thought he would be angry or sad, but Tawfeeq felt better after the interaction.
“I am one with peace and love,” Tawfeeq said. “We will all rise to make America better.”
Though Tawfeeq is optimistic on the national level, the division on the local level is felt strongly on the Republican side. In Monroe County, no Republicans were elected to public office.
William Ellis, chairman of the Monroe County Republican party, said the local Republican Party is damaged and he would not be surprised if the party had no candidates in the 2018 election.
The people of Monroe County are happy with the status quo and Democratic control, he said.
“When they’re tired of the theft and the corruption, the Republican Party will be ready,” Ellis said. “But we will not waste our time and resources.”
However, Ellis said he thinks the people can come together on a national level if Trump can create jobs for blue collar workers.
Mark Fraley, chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, said he is in a state of disbelief and sadness at the results of the presidential election. However, this motivates him to fight for what the Democratic Party believes in even more.
“There’s no question that we will be fighting as hard as ever, if not more so to fight back against Trump’s vision of America,” Fraley said. “It’s the least we can do for everyone who’s marginalized or discluded from this vision.”
The division in the United States is not between Democrats and Republicans, he said. It is between people who have had very different experiences in the U.S. in the last few decades regarding what they accept as the American ideal. These people will need to come together and collaborate to reunite the country.
“We can’t just rely on strong leadership,” Fraley said. “We have to rely on strong fellowship and rely on the ability to look at each other as potential allies.”
He said this is already happening on the local level. Republicans and Democrats in Monroe County have continuously worked together for the good of the community, he said. However, Fraley said for this to happen on a national level the country would have to see a side of president-elect Trump that no one has seen before.
Trump misaligns Muslims, wants to bar aspiring citizens from America’s promise of prosperity and displays gross misogyny, he said.
“I’m not optimistic,” Fraley said on Trump’s willingness to change and collaborate with Democrats. “But we have to keep fighting. We have no choice but to do so.”
Though Clinton lost the election, Tawfeeq said he will continue to support her and work closely with the Democratic Party to ensure the U.S. is the best country in the world.
With leaders like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama still here, the U.S. cannot be bad, he said.
“Whatever happens, I will fight for this country,” Tawfeeq said. “I’ll be in the front fighting to keep this country free.”
