Trump supporters filled a Hilton hotel ballroom as the Republican presidential nominee’s improbable underdog campaign picked up steam across the country

After a barnstorming blitz that involved 14 rallies in 10 states over a 72-hour period, Donald Trump prepared for the election in a midtown New York building that did not bear his name.

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As the evening’s news got better and better for the Republican – a win in Ohio, then Florida – the cheers in a New York Hilton hotel ballroom grew loud enough to be heard over at Trump Tower, where Trump was in his penthouse, watching with family and friends.



With the announcement that Trump had won Ohio, a vital state in his push for rust belt votes, the room erupted. Squeals of delight broke out amongst the cheers as the announcement came over the television, as supporters hugged in seeming disbelief. As they slowly grasped the immensity of the call, diehards said to each other: “We’re going to win this, dude.”

Senator Jeff Sessions, who was the first elected federal official to endorse Trump, told the Guardian: “There was more support out there than the polls showed.”

He added: “I concluded months ago when I endorsed Donald Trump that he was talking to an ignored group of Americans that could decide the next election.”

He said these people were “disrespected, ignored and unappreciated” by the Washington establishment.

It looked like many of those people were showing up at the polls. As Sessions, of Alabama, heard the cheers from the call of Ohio, he asked what the stir was about. When told, he simply clapped his hands together, emphatically.

Later, news networks called Florida for Trump as well. The room broke into rounds of ecstatic cheers. Chants of “USA! USA!” broke out. North Carolina followed, and Iowa. The cheers grew louder and louder.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man vacuums US flags on the stage where Donald Trump will speak later. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The evening had begun in low-key fashion. Although Trump made a habit of staging primary night events at properties he owned, such as Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago in Florida, his campaign had reserved a hotel ballroom at a local Hilton.

As results trickled in, supporters began to show up, dressed for a formal party. The men were in suits, the women in dresses. The stage featured a backdrop with the flags of all 50 states and a half-dozen American flags. It was flanked on each side by a glass display case holding a red Make America Great Again baseball cap, the symbol of Trump’s campaign.

Among key advisers, the mood was sober. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and close Trump adviser, didn’t try to second-guess any decisions made by the campaign in an interview with Fox News.

Asked about Trump’s apparent weak performance with traditionally Republican women, he said: “I’ll tell you in two days or maybe three or more to figure out if something different had to be done.”

He added, though: “Sometimes when you win, you don’t think anything different had to be done.”

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway began to point fingers at Republicans who hadn’t wholeheartedly supported the party’s nominee. This included former president George W Bush, who announced on Tuesday that he and his wife voted for “none of the above”.

At least two former presidential rivals announced they hadn’t voted for Trump. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced that he cast his ballot for conservative independent candidate Evan McMullin, while Ohio governor John Kasich wrote in the name of 2008 GOP nominee John McCain.

Yet as the night continued and a number of state race remained tight, the mood in the crowd became increasingly optimistic. When Chris Wallace declared on Fox News just after 9pm that Trump could be the next president, the ballroom broke into its first round of cheers.