US Election 2016: Donald Trump's New York party hails 'working class revolution'

Voted in: US President Donald Trump
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Daniel Bates9 November 2016

Despair turned to delight in the ballroom of the Hilton Midtown Manhattan as Donald Trump’s triumph became clear.

When he was declared the winner, supporters threw their red “Make America Great Again” caps into the air and shouted: “Donald! Donald!”

With polls pointing to Mr Trump losing, he appeared to have hedged his bets with a small event — the room was big enough for only about 500 people, a far cry from the vast Javits Centre which housed Hillary Clinton’s party.

But by 9pm the mood brightened and the crowd began to swell with women in cocktail dresses and men in suits. There were no Republican grandees — former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was one of the few big names.

Jubilant Donald Trump supporters

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By 10pm Mr Trump was gaining momentum. As the battleground states of Florida and Ohio tilted towards him, the crowd began cheering.

The mood fell when Mrs Clinton won Virginia — a woman next to me put her head in her hands and said: “Oh no!” But Mr Trump rallied, taking Ohio, and the crowd went into raptures at about 11pm when he won Florida and North Carolina.

The race came down to the Rust Belt states and at 2.40am Fox News called it for Mr Trump.

Jesse Singh, who moved to the US from India 30 years ago, said Mr Trump won because he “wasn’t a politician”. He said: “That’s what I like about him the most. He talks like the average person and he’s a strong leader.”

Steve Hantler, a Trump campaign volunteer and retired car worker from Michigan, said: “I have only known Mr Trump since the Republican convention but I have seen someone who recognises that there is a political class in Washington that’s taking care of themselves and not the public.

"It will take someone as strong and as much of an outsider as he is to break up the political class, and I’m talking the Republicans and the Democrats.”

John Fredericks, Virginia chairman of the Donald Trump for President campaign, said: “Working-class Americans are coming out in record numbers.

"This is a working-class revolution. Nobody saw it coming, the elites in the media eating their cheese and drinking their champagne never talk to real voters.

"Working-class Americans have been sold down the river by the establishment, by the Wall Street slavery class and Donald Trump is their advocate.”

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