Photograph of Donald Trump by Flickr user Gage Skidmore.Most restaurant and bar owners try to keep their businesses out of one-sided politics for fear of alienating customers. Those in super blue DC who do wade into partisan territory pretty much always lean left. But H Street sports bar Dirty Water—which is hosting an election night party with the Washington, D.C. Young Republicans—is the rare exception. “We’re rooting for Trump and we plan on spraying champagne when we win,” the bar posted on Instagram. “If that’s not your vibe, we kindly suggest you take in election night somewhere less fun.” Owner Luke Casey argues that the move is a good business decision, because he’ll pretty much have a monopoly on the right-wing bar crowd. “We’ll have a lot more people [by] leaning Republican, because there’s one spot for Republicans. As opposed to Democrats, where it’s literally every bar on H Street and the rest of the city. I don’t really know where else I would go if I was a Republican and didn’t want to get overwhelmed with people cheering for Kamala,” says Casey, a registered Republican. Casey says he’s also been bombarded by media requests, particularly from international news outlets, who want to show the election night reaction from both sides of the aisle, but are struggling to find any other bars to get a MAGA point of view. While other DC bars have become Republican hangouts over the years, the businesses themselves typically never market themselves as such. The Washington, D.C. Young Republicans, for example, has hosted meet-ups at the Big Board on H Street, which gained attention from prominent Republicans during the pandemic for openly defying the city’s mask and vaccine mandates. But the Big Board itself has never promoted Republican events on its own channels, and co-owner Eric Flannery described himself as “apolitical” in a Fox News segment. Dirty Water has gotten some social media backlash over its politics, including one threat that “the mob” was coming to damage his business, Casey says. “It’s just like insane to me the way DC is. There’s no other place in the country where you’d say, ‘I support Trump,’ and it’s almost like you’re a Nazi and you’re Hitler,” Casey says. But he hasn’t run into any issues in person. In fact, some clientele have been telling him it’s “refreshing to see that not every business in the city is completely insane on one side.” Casey, who’s originally from Pennsylvania and previously worked in data science, took ownership of the sports bar in August of 2023. The place had been around under different ownership for six years prior, and Casey—initially interested in a sportsbook partnership—stepped in to buy the business when the the bar was going to close. Still, Chris DeFelice, who previously ran Dirty Water, also had some ties to the right. In 2022, he appeared on the podcast of far-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to talk about the hardship of DC’s Covid restrictions. For Casey, though, the presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris was the first time Dirty Water had gotten political under his watch. He reached out to a number of Republican groups before getting the Washington, D.C. Young Republicans to co-host a debate watch party. A sizable crowd turned out: “That was probably equal to—not like a Saturday night NBA finals game—but probably like a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night game.” The young republican-hosted VP debate party was about half the size, “like a Bruins weekend first-round playoff game.” For election night, the bar is pre-selling tickets to its open bar event for $30. (It will cost a little more at the door.) The free-flowing drinks will last until a national news network declares a winner or a candidate declares victory, “which, if we’re being honest, Trump is probably declaring victory either way on Tuesday night,” Casey says. Ultimately, though, Casey notes that Dirty Water is a sports bar, and there’s nothing particularly political about the place outside of debate or election night events. If a prominent Republican walked in, he says he probably wouldn’t recognize him or her. In fact, he says he’s never had a political conversation at the bar outside of debate night. He says his customers are generally much more interested in sports than politics. “I would bet 95-percent of our clientele would care more about the Celtics beating the Hornets tonight than whoever wins the election on Tuesday,” Casey says.The post This May Be the Only Bar in DC Publicly Supporting Trump first appeared on Washingtonian.