As election results trickled in Nov. 5, UCLA students gathered to watch in Pauley Pavillion.

BruinsVote – a nonpartisan group led by the Undergraduate Students Association Council and Graduate Student Association – hosted the event, which featured food, drinks and large screens for attendees to watch election results. The event hosted supporters of both Vice President Kamala Harris and now-President-elect Donald Trump, many of whom wore campaign merchandise.

Kiley Larkin, the communications director for BruinsVote, helped organize the event as a place for Bruins to watch the election because some people may not have a way to watch results come in, she said.

Elle Doolittle, a first-year economics student who attended the event, said she hoped the event could serve as a place where she could see the results with others who were also passionate about politics. She and many other attendees felt this election to be consequential because this election was extremely important for national progress, she said.

“Everybody in this room cares about politics, about democracy and about the future of our country,” Doolittle said.

Dhruva Dassan, a first-year financial actuarial mathematics student, said he felt excited to watch the election. He said he had never seen an American election live and checked the poll results as they came in on his laptop.

An international student from Mumbai, Dassan said the event was very important because of the United States’ role on the global stage. He added that he expected people to be “standing and celebrating” when candidates won certain states.

Dassan said it was “satisfying” to see how passionate viewers were.

Vincent Sanchez, a third-year political science student who attended the event, said he felt a strong sense of belonging, adding that he felt attendees were engaged and all understood politics. Even though he said he did not agree with everyone present, Sanchez said he found the event was a good place to understand the other side.

Christopher Borgen, a first-year political science student who also attended the event, said he felt tension among his fellow students on the election results, adding that he believed people throughout campus seemed very invested in the election results.

Borgen, who added that he arrived at the BruinsVote party from another election watch party, said the event was a convenient place to watch results come in.

“Having a good place to watch the election is important,” he said.

Anika Roche, an attendee who said she has collaborated with BruinsVote, said she found the party to be a place where people on both sides of the political spectrum could converse with each other.

Roche, a member of the UCLA rowing team said she has helped to organize events between the organization and UCLA Athletics, adding that the goal of events like these was to get people civically involved and not to politically influence participants. She noted that the attendees of the event likely held a wide range of political beliefs.

Roche, who wore merchandise supporting the Harris campaign to the watch party, said she believes the event was a success, as it allowed for people to respectfully discuss the election and results. Trump took the lead throughout most of the event and – in the end – won the election. Regardless, supporters of both sides at the party amicably socialized amongst each other.

“People, I assume, on both sides of the aisle are here just engaging in discourse with each other, chatting, just existing together respectfully,” Roche said.

She said that the event brought politically enthusiastic people together at a pivotal point in U.S. history.

“Being in UCLA Athletics, you don’t get a lot of people that are extremely socially involved like I am,” Roche said. “It’s nice to come here and have a space where there are a lot of other people that are.”