JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
This entire election cycle, we've been talking about swing states, the battlegrounds that all but determine the country's next president. And last night was no different. All eyes were on states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, as supporters of both candidates waited anxiously for results to trickle in.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Now, over the last few months, NPR staff visited these states to talk to voters and organizers. So we checked back in with a few of them today to see how they were feeling after President-elect Donald Trump's victory last night.
REBECA SALAS: The people spoke, and they spoke for Trump, and that's disappointing.
SUMMERS: Rebeca Salas is a college student in Tucson, Arizona. She was very hopeful for a Harris victory but is now nervous about what the next four years will look like under President-elect Trump.
SALAS: His rhetoric against women is really nerve-wracking. His rhetoric against immigrants is nerve-wracking. And as a young Latina immigrant, it just makes me a little bit scared going forward to see what he does and where he's going to stop 'cause I don't think he will.
SUMMERS: Salas, whose key issue was abortion rights, says that as a young Latina, she's disappointed about the Latino voter turnout for Trump.
SALAS: You not only voted for a convicted felon, but you also voted against women's rights. You voted against your own rights.
MAYRA RODRIGUEZ: I collaborate a lot with Latinos for Trump, and I was part of a lot of those events and rallies. I'm devastated about Arizona. I'm devastated to think that 60% of Arizonans are so inhumane. It silenced my heart, you know?
SHAPIRO: That's Mayra Rodriguez, state director of Moms for Arizona, an anti-abortion group that campaigned against Proposition 139, a ballot measure passed last night that will enshrine abortion rights into the state's Constitution. Rodriguez says she'll continue her anti-abortion work despite facing a defeat this cycle.
RODRIGUEZ: Changing hearts and minds about abortion is what we're here for.
SHAPIRO: While she's happy to see President Trump return to office, she's also deeply disappointed by the passing of an amendment that will give state and local police the power to enforce immigration laws.
RODRIGUEZ: As someone who lives in Arizona, I feel like I woke up to more like a California, New Mexico-looking state instead of what we used to be. And devastated to see that the same amount of Republicans that voted for enshrining abortion in our Constitution is, like, basically same amount of Democrats who voted for an anti-immigrant bill.
SUMMERS: In Georgia, Winslow Jones is relieved the country is headed in a more conservative direction. She's the president of the Atlanta Young Republicans and says that young men turned out in larger numbers for the Trump campaign because of messaging around masculinity.
WINSLOW JONES: There's been a lot from the far left especially sort of devaluing masculinity and devaluing what it means to be a man, like, a strong man.
SUMMERS: Jones says that messaging resonated with young men of all demographics and helped Trump win in Georgia and beyond. She also says cost of living and inflation also helped drive young voters toward the Republican Party.
JONES: It's harder to, for instance, buy a home when you're first out of college. Interest rates are so high, and everything just being so more expensive, like just the groceries and the gas, the everyday - every weekly things that we purchase.
SHAPIRO: Finally, Jim Neumeyer owns a restaurant in the heart of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's a deeply blue county in a state that went for Trump. Neumeyer has two young daughters, and one of his key issues is protecting women's health. He was really enthusiastic about Harris' chances and was surprised by this outcome.
JIM NEUMEYER: It seems insane to me that women vote for Trump, I guess, you know? I can't see it. I cannot understand it.
SHAPIRO: He and his wife had to tell their girls this morning that Trump won and explain what that means, telling them...
NEUMEYER: That we are still Americans and that this is our America, too, and that there may be a lot of things ahead of us that will feel hard or scary but that we're going to still show up. We're going to protect our own rights and our neighbors' rights.
SUMMERS: With uncertainty in the days and years ahead, Neumeyer finds solace in looking at his daughters, knowing that they'll be the leaders of the future.
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