Braver Angels Reds and Blues: Election Day 2024 and Beyond

Some wore red hats, others wore blue. Outside scores of polling places in many states across the country, pairs of Democrats and Republicans sat together in a radically simple experiment called the Braver Angels Election Day Initiative.

The contrast between dire media forecasts of violence, and calamity during the election and what actually happened was stark. The day passed by calmly with minimal reports of disruption. There was a sense of quiet majesty that day.

In this episode we hear about the experience of three Red/Blue pairs of Braver Angels volunteers. For all of them the experience of presenting themselves in public as liberals and conservatives who could get along was uplifting. We also get reactions and reflections about the results and what they mean for our democracy.

Our guests are: Liberal Don Goldberg and conservative Elizabeth Doll who were outside the King County Election Headquarters in Renton, Washington on Election Day. Dorsey Cartwright, who voted for Harris, and Roger Haynes who backed Trump, spent several hours together close to a polling station in Austin, Texas.  The third red/blue pair Martin Hunke (Blue) and Tarleton Ferrin (Red) in Tucson, Arizona. 

Braver Angels volunteers had posters that said Vote Red, Vote Blue, We're All Americans Through and Through.

"People were really warm about it," said Elizabeth. "They seemed sometimes surprised, sometimes amused, but everyone was really receptive." Don said the experience in Renton "was really kind of delightful".

Our Blue volunteers, as expected, were deeply saddened by the election result. "I felt some sadness," said Martin Hunke. "I realized that we live in very different worlds. We can't agree on what truth is."

"In elections people win and lose, but we as Americans are left with moving forward together," conservative Roger Haynes told us. "We have to learn to win and lose with grace and understand how to be more empathetic with people whose side didn't win... Do we take this as another gotcha moment or do we try to step outside of our tribe and ask what's it like for them?"

This episode was produced with the help and encouragement of David Albright, Jessica Jones, and Mónica Guzmán at "A Braver Way" podcast. Our deep thanks to them.

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