At 7:30 p.m. on election night, the WashU College Republicans met in a modern off-campus apartment on Washington Avenue to prepare for a night that would test their hopes and principles. About 20 students were there, creating a lively scene filled with chatter, laughter, and the familiar smell of pizza. Some sat cross-legged in front of a flat-screen TV tuned into the Red Eagle Politics YouTube livestream; others stood around the kitchen island, alternately chatting and refreshing the New York Times election page on their laptops. The mood was buoyant, with food, drinks, and bursts of humor punctuating the tense watch.

Seven minutes past 7 p.m., a gaggle of students sporting “I Voted” stickers and camouflage print “Harris-Waltz” hats milled around Seigle 103, waiting for the WashU College Democrats election night watch party to commence. The nervous energy radiating off the group was palpable, cut briefly as WashU Democrats’ President, senior Saish Satyal, pushed through the crowd with a plentiful bounty of Domino’s pizza boxes stacked high in his arms. The watchers expected a night of community, come commiseration or celebration.