If you are a Republican, or just someone who loves this country, there is certainly reason to celebrate Donald Trump’s landslide victory on Election Day, completing what arguably is the most improbable comeback in modern American political history. 

Honestly, maybe ever.

Not even the most stalwart Trump supporter would have seen this coming four years ago. Not after all the failed attempts to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election coupled with the events of January 6, however you want to characterize them.

Personally, at that time I was much more concerned about the damage Trump was doing to his legacy, which up until then had been a good one, than whether or not he would ever run for, much less win, elected office again.

Yet, here we are.

Donald Trump is going to be the 47th president of the United States after serving as its 45th. Incredible.

A lot of the comeback has to do with that legacy I was talking about. Voters remember how good they had it under Trump, and they want a return to it.

A lot of has to do with Democrats essentially running two incumbents for president and they couldn’t put a coherent sentence together between them.

In all seriousness, the Democrats lost much of their traditional base like blue collar whites, blacks and Latinos, because they were far more worried about the woke agenda of their elites than they were about the working class voter’s agenda.

Those folks don’t care or don’t want drag queen story hours and men competing in women’s sports. They care and want to be able to support their families, to have not just a secure border but safe communities, and they want to be able to send their kids to school without having to worry about the education system trying to change the sex of their child.

 Suddenly, the Republican Party, due to Trump’s populist movement, has become the party of the working class, not the Democrats, and it’s not even close. That’s why Trump is not only going to win the Electoral College, he’s going to win the popular vote as well.   

As I said, there is certainly reason to celebrate Trump’s victory, but there is no reason to gloat. As always, when the voters have  given you the reins of power, particularly with this kind of mandate, after a failed administration you have to deliver, and the work on that starts now.

I certainly don’t want to rain on anybody’s post-election parade, but despite Trump’s gaudy numbers nationally, his numbers locally have given me some cause to pause.

Here’s what I mean.

I’m going to use round numbers here for readability purposes. If you want the exact numbers they are available on the Walton County government website under the Elections & Registration tab.

In 2020, Donald Trump received 41,000 votes in Walton County compared to 10,000 for Joe Biden. All total, 51,000 of the 76,000 registered voters in Walton County took part in that controversial election.

With the way in-person early voting numbers grew locally for the 2024 election, from 29,000 in 2020 to 42,000 in 2024, I was sure Trump was going to do much better this year with the theory that our mostly Republican county had finally embraced the early voting concept.

The numbers don’t bear that out.   

In 2024, Donald Trump received 42,000 votes in Walton County compared to 15,000 votes for Kamala Harris. All total, 57,000 of the 76,000 registered voters in Walton County took part in this election.

So Trump only outperformed 2020 by 1,000 votes, while Harris outperformed Biden by 5,000? Interesting, very interesting. And something to keep an eye locally moving forward. 

For now, let’s get to work. There is plenty to done to get our country back on track, and it will happen a lot quicker if we all close ranks and do it together.     

Patrick Graham is the proprietor and publisher of The Walton Tribune and The Covington News. His email address is patrick.graham@waltontribune.com.