Dems celebrating at Donnybrook on election night

SN: Are you elated?

Jessica Loeser, president of the Harry S. Truman Democratic club: I am elated. I think this has been an inspiring election season for local and national Democrats. The energy from the top-down, from the presidential candidate down to the race for the Assembly and Senate seats, has really engaged our neighbors in local politics. We welcome that.

GSN: How did you celebrate on Election Day?

JL: We started out our celebration at the club office, collecting the results from the poll sites in the neighborhood.

GSN: Do you have an impression of how the breakdown went for the top of the ticket?

JL: Interestingly, it varied between the different complexes. The Truman club only covers the Co-op Village area. It varied from two to one to three to one in favor of Obama in different complexes. You would think that it's sort of a monolithic neighborhood, but, really, there was great diversity in the presidential vote.

GSN: Between two to one and three to one.

JL: Even within complexes, different buildings voted differently.

GSN: Turnout was enormous?

JL: Turnout was at an all-time high. Those who voted in the morning probably saw it more than anyone else during the day. I think a lot of people got up early and stood on line for an hour at 6 a.m.. But if you voted at three in the afternoon, like I did, the lines were a little shorter.

GSN: How do you feel about the fact that New York City has expelled its last Republican congressman? Is it a good thing?

JL: As a Democrat, I think it's a great thing. It strengthens our hands to have a Democrat representing us in every capacity. More than party politics, I think it's great in terms of taking care of the issues: Energy, tax policy, healthcare. I think it's great that we as a unified city are saying, This is the direction in which we want to move to improve our lives.

GSN: In all of New York State there are now three Republican congressmen left.

JL: My mother lives in that Congressional District on Staten Island where the last NYC Republican seat used to be, and there was huge support for the new congressman. It says a lot about how the Republicans have failed the country and the city. Even in a place like Staten Island, which is as conservative as they come, it came down to brass tacks of where the Republicans have failed our quality of life, our future, our energy, our foreign policy, the war. They've done such a poor job of managing the country.

GSN: The biggest local victory has been in the state Senate.

JL: It remains to be seen. There are three holdouts, Democratic senators who have not yet decided which leader they're going to support. They might not vote for the Democratic majority leader. So we don't know how that's going to turn out.

GSN: I know how [Assembly Speaker] Shelly [Silver] would deal with something like that.

JL: (Laughs) I think Shelly is a true artist when it comes to management and leadership. And he does so in the state's best interest. That is what's absent in these discussions about these three state senators. The discussion there is not about which leader would make the state better, who would vote in the best interest of New York residents, as I think Shelly is always so careful to do.

GSN: Back to election night – you were in the office on the second floor of the Lippman Auditorium.

JL: Collecting results, seeing record numbers of voters, record numbers in support of Shelly, we welcomed our new state Senator Daniel Squadron to our neighborhoods, he too received a record number of votes. And then we moved the celebration over to a new bar called Donnybrook, on Clinton and Stanton – thank you to Meghan for welcoming us – they had three large-screen TVs, so people could watch results. It was great to be with our neighbors. We invited members of the club and volunteers to have a drink, watch the results and enjoy what was happening in the country.

GSN: You were there for the 11 o'clock call?

JL: Yes, yes. It was like being in a mini Time Square on New Year's Eve. People in the bar were cheering and clapping, and they were counting down, and you could hear the screaming out on the street – I was blown away by the sheer excitement at the announcement of what everyone knew was about to happen. They were calling it earlier, we knew they were going to name Obama, and yet people were almost holding their breath until it was announced. Having worked in politics for the last 11 years now, I had never seen anything like that. I'm in awe of Obama's ability to excite people. Truman Club District Leader David Weinberger adds that he and Ruth Bekritsky, his co- District Leader, have been involved in every election for more than 30 years, and in the old days “we would have building captains for every section in the co-ops. Now we use e-mail and Facebook." But regardless of the changing times, he says, “having a club where people can come together to discuss what's important in the neighborhood remains our first order of business."

That’s certainly change we can believe in.

Interview: Kelly Rucker