Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

The political establishment took a crucial blow Tuesday night as Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

During the past 20 months, the quintessential non-politician Trump became the figurehead for those tired of Washington insiders and gridlock – which they equated with Hillary Clinton, whose political career spans three decades. The Associated Press called the race for the Republican at around 11:30 p.m. Though Trump did well nationally, voters in Washoe and Clark counties tilted Nevada into Clinton’s column.

In the Silver State, the Democratic voter firewall was very real, with Clinton and Senate hopeful Catherine Cortez Masto never relinquishing the lead. Recreational marijuana passed and Democrats looked like they might take back the state Assembly.

That Democratic strength at the top of the ballot in Nevada didn’t spread nationally, with Trump taking key states North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania.

The Nevada results were disappointing for Teresa Beringer, a 62-year-old from Reno who’s volunteered with the Clinton campaign since April 2015.

“I had so much hope that tonight would go strongly in Hillary’s favor and we would have our first woman president and all the work I’ve been doing in the past year and half would’ve culminated,” she said. “It’s been a difficult night.”

Many observers doubted Trump from the onset. His brash rhetoric against immigrants and women were seen as a nonstarter in a rapidly changing electorate. Poll numbers were not in his favor as late as Tuesday morning.

But controversy after controversy came and Trump weathered all of them.

To his supporters like Michael Thorn, an 18-year-old first-time voter from Reno, Trump’s victory wasn’t a surprise. It was a foregone conclusion.

“From Day One, I knew he could pull it off,” he said. “That’s why I voted for him in my first ever caucus. I knew he could do it.”

Trump’s win was also more than just about a policy plan or promises to Josh Fontenot, 35, of Reno. It was about a change in attitude for a government that had failed him and the country.

“I believe the people won,” Fontenot said. “We were able to beat the media, the establishment, the donors, the money, everything that was going against him. Shoot, just two weeks ago they were talking like he already lost.”

Fontenot just got back into politics this year after being reactivated by Trump. He and his wife Grachelle, a 38-year-old Filipina immigrant who is now a citizen, rejoiced at the thought of the outsider taking office.

“I feel like he truly has awakened our nation,” Grachelle Fontenot said. “Our voice has been suppressed for so long. With him, we just feel like we do matter.”

Trump’s never held public office before, so his next moves are unknown. He made lofty promises during his election about cutting taxes and building a wall along the United States-Mexico border.

Caroline Smith, a 65-year-old from Reno who said she was with Trump from the beginning, said she wasn’t worried about any of his promises and thought Trump a man of his word.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this man will fulfill every promise,” she said.

However, there is a lingering political problem. Republicans like Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller are going to have to find a way to work with Trump after spurning him during the general election.

The Republicans who avoided Trump coupled with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid retiring – not to mention Reid’s goading of Trump on the Senate floor – creates a serious clout problem for Nevada. The Nevada Republican Party, previously dysfunctional to the point candidates avoided working with it, and Chairman Michael McDonald are cozy with Trump, but being close to a party can only get the state so much.

U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei was the only Republican to fully embrace Trump, serving as his state campaign chairman admittedly for the purpose of trying to gain some influence.

“There’s Western issues that quite frankly this administration is probably going to need help and perspective on,” Amodei said. “I’m hoping to be a big part of providing that perspective.”

What comes next for Trump and the country is completely unknown. The United States hasn’t experienced a candidate like Trump in the modern era.

He will have a Republican-controlled Congress, putting many of President Barack Obama’s reforms at risk of being overturned. Chief among those is the president’s health care plan, which has been the rallying cry of conservatives for nearly six years and was a major reason for red waves in 2010 and 2014.

The most concrete policy positions espoused by Trump are being tough on immigration and getting money out of politics. However, because he has only a sporadic political past as well as changing opinions over time, there is no indication of what might come in a Trump presidency.

Though one area with some clarity is the United States Supreme Court, deadlocked between four conservative and four liberal judges since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February, the Senate has held up confirmation hearings on Obama appointee Merrick Garland, wanting to wait for the election results.

With Trump’s election, Garland’s appointment in a Republican-controlled Senate is almost nonexistent.

But Lou Borrego, a 51-year-old real-estate developer from Reno and Trump backer since the beginning, said he only expected one thing.

“Change,” he said. “That’s it. I think it’s time for change.”

Seth A. Richardson covers politics for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Like him on Facebook here or follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.