Image by Emma Spainhoward.Sometime soon (conceivably even Tuesday night?), we’ll know who the next President will be. You have plenty of choices for hard-nosed election coverage, but we here at Washingtonian are largely interested in how this election feels. After all, life for many people in this region is profoundly affected by the administration in power. So we’ve fanned out around town to find out how this election is landing on you. Washingtonians. The people we write for and about. This live blog will be updated until a victor is declared or we go to sleep. Depending on how we feel. Helpful links • Voting information for DC, Maryland, and Virginia—and how to get a cheap ride to the polls • Election night watch parties, food specials, drink specials • Our food critic’s guide to comfort food • DC’s only bar that’s publicly supporting Trump •  Where to rage, cry, and laugh around town The scene at McClellan’s Retreat Walking around Dupont feels eerie. There are very few people outside. I walk into McClellan’s Retreat, a bar that advertised that it doesn’t have TVs. There are five customers here in total, mostly regulars. I hear from them that by this point on a normal Tuesday, there are usually more people. And, you know, people probably want to go to a bar with a TV tonight. I take a sip out of the drink I’ve ordered out of courtesy and quietly sit back. It’s pretty chill, honestly. —Daniella Ignacio Vibe check: Lafayette Square and Black Lives Matter Plaza, 6:01 PM Photograph by Andrew Beaujon. Photograph by Andrew Beaujon.   Vibe check: Howard University (Harris HQ) A rehearsal. Photograph by Evy Mages “It’s all very Biblical.” Photograph by Jessica Sidman. The above flier was found on the car of our food editor, Jessica Sidman, and upon seeing her bewildered Slack message, fate emboldened me to contact Miss Lisa. It turns out, Miss Lisa had been waiting for me to call all day. There was, in fact, a reason she flyered cars in DC on Election Day—she had something to share with the people: “I believe fate is going to take its direction. I know I sound very Christian saying this, but what’s happening now, it’s all very Biblical.” To make a long story short, Donald Trump is going to win, much to Miss Lisa’s dismay. But what will Trump’s America 2: The Sequel look like? “Life will be all different. Money will be better. Oh my goodness, Molly, money will be better—so much better. The economy will be better, but everything else will be so, so, so, so bad. Our rights, our security, our friends and our allies, it’s just so scary.” Oh no! I expressed fear, as this was the last thing I wanted to hear. Will there be any recourse we can take? “All we can do is pray that the Lord takes over and let the Lord’s will be done. That’s all we can do.” Well all right then. Do with that information what you will, reader. I was enthusiastically invited to visit Miss Lisa in person for her $10 palm reading special, and if what she says will happen is true, I might just take her up on it—I’m going to need some pretty serious spiritual guidance. —Molly Szymanski Vibe check: The Election Prayer Vigil at Washington National Cathedral Photograph by Ike Allen. In the hushed pews, some devotees were no doubt praying for a particular candidate, some just for a peaceful election. Marie and Ralph Kissick say they had never been to the cathedral on Election Day before. “It’s such a divisive election,” Ralph says. “It’s so important that the electorate get it right.” “I believe in prayer,” says another voter, Nina Pope. “I want there to be unity in the United States regardless of who wins.” —Ike Allen How are you spending election night? We asked our Instagram followers how they plan to spend Tuesday night. Here’s what they told us: Vibe check: Harris watch party sets up at Howard University Photograph by Evy Mages Photograph by Evy Mages Photograph by Evy Mages Photograph by Evy Mages What are DC-area newsrooms eating tonight? The Washington Post Newspaper staff are treated to a full day of food: bagels from Call Your Mother, treats from Georgetown Cupcakes and Levain Bakery, java from Jaliyaa Coffee, and then dinner from Tigo’s Peruvian & Mexican Grill on H Street and Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurant Tiger Fork. For the late-night crew, there’s jumbo slices from Duccini’s Pizza in Adams Morgan. Politico The team is bringing in food from two spots during Election Night: J & J’s Mex-Taqueria for dinner, and then Manny & Olga’s Pizza for the late shift. Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy and the White House team are dining on deviled eggs and buffalo chicken sandwiches from gastropub Blackfinn, located blocks from the White House. Reporting from the Harris event at Howard University, senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich will be snacking on beef jerky and a protein bar. NBC4 Washington The newsroom is dining on barbecue with mac’n’cheese, cole slaw, and beans, courtesy of in-house food service Flik. Axios What’s on the menu for the Arlington-based newsroom? Chipotle and We, the Pizza, plus a fridge stocked with Celsius energy drinks in preparation for a tiring day. CBS News The network is hitting two different pizza shops for its late-night meal: the funky pies at Boogy & Peel for the group at the Harris event and New York-style slice shop Wise Guys for the bureau. (They’ll also get coffee, snacks and dinner from CNF catering tonight.) There are already plans for breakfast Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM from Panera. PoPville As a staff of one, PoPville proprietor Dan Silverman reports that he is currently being powered by Nanny O’Brien’s honey-mustard-based Virginia-style chicken wings, which he had for lunch. Dinner will be a za’atar bagel from Call Your Mother he has stashed in his freezer. “After my kids go to sleep,” he writes, “I plan on pilfering some of their Halloween candy accompanied by a generous gin (Tanqueray) and tonic (Canada Dry) with a splash of Campari.” Please send your newsroom menu to Daniella Byck: [email protected]. Vibe check: The park near JD Vance’s house in Del Ray Photograph by Andrew Beaujon. You don’t have to watch the election like it’s a ballgame It’s not that I should know better. It’s that I do know better. I used to cover sports, which means I used to sit in press boxes, dorky media ID lanyard draped around my neck, intently watching the action on the floor unspool in real time, every goal and point and touchdown and run scored moving me closer to an outcome—a winner and a loser and story to tell about how it happened. (Oh, and also some absolutely brutal deadlines. I don’t miss those!) Election night also produces winners and losers and a story to tell. Maybe that’s why it’s packaged and presented in the manner of a live game: vote counts coming in like points being scored, pundits yammering like halftime analysts, stat guys jabbing touchscreens like John Madden working a telestrator, utterly cursed win probability needles sagging and spiking. All of this creates an inescapable, probably intentional sense that you’re watching the competition play out, right in front of your eyes, that someone’s winning and someone’s losing, but maybe that could turn around at any moment, and you can’t look away because you might miss something important. Yes, Donald Trump has an early lead, but Kamala Harris is a fourth-quarter player! Only, no: that’s not how any of this works. As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes has so helpfully pointed out, elections aren’t a basketball game. Election night coverage is more akin to “hearing the results of a full basketball game, basket by basket, but being read totally out of order after the game already ended.” WATCH– @chrislhayes on election night vote counting: “It’s like hearing the results of a full basketball game, basket by basket, but being read totally out of order after the game already ended.” pic.twitter.com/GbbzVQhzN1 — All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) November 2, 2024 Hayes made the above point in the context of Trump-y lies that elections are rigged—only against him personally, and only by relatively infinitesimal vote margins in a handful of states, and only when he loses in those states, but anyway—which draw strength from a sports fan-adjacent feeling of my guy was winning big early, how could he end up losing tight late? Something’s fishy. If you’re the sort of person who thinks elections are being stolen despite a lack of credible evidence (for instance, you own the social media platform formerly known as Twitter), this is a good point to keep in whatever’s left of your brainworm-addled mind. But even if you’re a non-conspiratorial normie, it’s also worth remembering. Because otherwise, watching election night coverage can be as tense, anxious, and downright emotionally ruinous as watching your favorite school play in March Madness, living and dying with every three-point heave. You will find yourself cheering or booing when California is projected blue; high-fiving or pouring another drink when exit polls hint that the Dobbs decision was more/less impactful than anyone predicted; and generally allowing your amygdala to be hijacked by how quickly Pennsylvania civil servants are able to count ballots. Thing is, you don’t have to do this! You don’t have to watch the election like a game. You don’t have to watch at all, or compulsively refresh your social media feed. Once the polls close, the game is already over. The votes will be counted. You’ll know—and have to live with—the result. Why make a roller-coaster out of what is essentially a waiting period, the time between turning on your laptop and getting to your home screen? Why ruin your night for no good reason? Do something else. Do anything else. Watch a movie, go dancing, knit a sweater, read a book, pet your dog, call your mom, kill some zombies in the new Call of Duty. Heck, play some actual sports: the outcome will still be in doubt, and you can actually make an impact.As for me? I’ll be glued to the television tonight, and doomscrolling a second screen. I might know better, but I’m not ready to do better. Go team! —Patrick Hruby Vibe check: Ninth and C streets, Northeast Photograph by Tatyana Masters. Vibe check: Core Power Yoga Clear your head of swing states—this Shaw workout studio is all about the flow state, baby. If I were a Harris campaign staffer stationed at Howard tonight, I would be sticking my head into the lobby of this place every hour for a gulp of the serene, disinfected air. The smell of spandex emanating from the athleisure sale rack is intoxicating at a time like this. Maybe physical activity really is good for mental health. “This studio has a lot of community at Howard,” Emily Marquis, the studio coordinator, tells Washingtonian on Tuesday afternoon. “So I think that everyone’s just excited for all the festivities that are happening around here in our neighborhood.” Whether patrons are there to channel their Election Day enthusiasm into exercise—or to twist their bodies into positions that make it impossible to refresh Twitter—business has been good throughout the last couple of weeks. Classes typically fill up more quickly in the fall anyway, according to Marquis, but she notes that themed “women empowerment classes” have been particularly busy. Can the yogis of CorePower offer any advice to Washingtonians on how we can maintain some semblance of zen tonight? “I think it’s important to manifest positivity, so I think if you want a certain outcome, putting the power of positive thinking into it is very important,” Marquis says. “Break out the crystals.” (901 W Street, Northwest; Suite A.) —Kate Corliss Vibe check: Chevy Chase Community Center, Tuesday morning Photograph by Evy Mages Photograph by Evy Mages  The post Election Day 2024: A Vibes-Based Live Blog first appeared on Washingtonian.