Local GOP watches as Trump wins North Carolina
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on November 9, 2016 9:58 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
People gather at the Republican Headquarters in downtown Goldsboro Tuesday night to watch elections results as the are announced on several television networks
Supporters at the Wayne County Republican Party Tuesday night never lost hope as they watched Donald Trump first win the county, then the state.
Nearly 50 people arrived at the Republican party headquarters on election night to cheer on their presidential candidate in a tight race against Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump grabbed 50.8 percent of the vote over Clinton's 46.4 percent for the state.
"We're excited that Wayne County won by 11 percent, and now Trump won North Carolina by a much larger margin than Romney did in 2012," Republican party chair for Wayne County Brent Heath said.
"We're excited and we look forward at some point tonight to celebrate Trump winning the nation."
House majority leader and representative of Wayne County John Bell showed up to cheer on Trump and to view his own race online for reelection against Evelyn Paul.
Bell eventually stepped away from the computer and told his family he won.
He defeated Paul with 8,849 votes to her 2,597.
"This election is important to a lot of people," he said.
"The main event tonight will be the presidential election, but we can only control what happens here in North Carolina."
The crowd at the headquarters began to dwindle, but others carried on to witness Trump win their state.
Elle Vickory and Jill Nielsen were excited to see women voting for Trump.
They said they heard Trump would not receive votes from women, but they said the women at the headquarters proved women helped Trump win the state.
"We're proud to be a state of deplorables," Ms. Nielsen said. "And it's good to see so many women turn out today, and that's really important -- young women."