In Wilmington, supporters honk for Joe Biden on a night with no clear winner

WILMINGTON, Del. — There were no fireworks in Joe Biden's hometown Tuesday night. Still, it was far from quiet.

Just before midnight, hundreds of hopeful supporters of the former vice president flocked to the Chase Center where they parked their cars, decked out in campaign paraphernalia, in neat, diagonal rows, demarcated by red, white, and blue traffic cones. And they honked – a lot.

They honked as broadcasters announced Biden had won the state of Virginia. They honked as his motorcade rolled up to the venue. And they honked the most when he took the stage.

"Hello, hello, hello," Biden said. "Your patience is commendable!"

By that point, it was clear that the results of the presidential contest were to remain inconclusive for some time — at least until the morning, and likely much longer.

Still, Biden assured the crowd that he believes he is "on track" to win the election.

"It's going to take a while. We're going to have to be patient while the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it ain't over till every vote is counted," he said, to another round of honks and cheers.

Though they were instructed to remain in their cars, some supporters – almost all wearing in cloth face masks, a few clutching wine glasses – pressed towards the stage to hear his remarks.

In his brief speech, Biden urged his supporters to "keep the faith."

"We’re going to win this," he said, before he walked off, waving to the crowd.

As they packed up their signs to head home, supporters shared mixed reactions to how the night had played out.

Though he said there's "reason to be optimistic," Delaware State Sen. Trey Paradee, 51, admitted that the immediate results of the election were a letdown.

"It’s a little disappointing that it was not a quick decisive victory and obviously, as you can see, with all the preparations that were made for tonight, it was meant to be a massive celebration," he said. "That didn’t quite happen."

Others, like Rich Rollo, 48, didn’t come to the Chase Center expecting a victory.

“Going into it, because everything was a mail-in ballot, from the beginning, we knew it was going to take time, that was the mindset,” he said. "I feel no different now than I did at the beginning of the day."

Michael Levin, 23, said he was leaving the scene "feeling just as anxiously excited as when I first came here." Nonetheless, he said he was "energized" by the crowd and encouraged by the atmosphere.

"Having the environment where we can come together and really celebrate the success of our democracy working in action through its election procedures, especially in the midst of the pandemic right now, it’s all really encouraging for what is in the future," Levin said.

Reginald Bernard Daniel II, 21, said that he felt “very energetic” after the speech from Biden.

"As he said, it’s still too early to tell, but we’ve got a good foothold," he said. "What's most important is being thorough — that every vote is counted."

Even Paradee agreed that it was a "fun evening."

"Delaware is a very close community," he said. "It was good to get everybody together and celebrate Joe. We love Joe. We believe in Joe. We all feel that we have a personal connection to him. And we feel that ultimately, he will be the next president of the United States. It was a little disheartening that it wasn’t as quick and decisive as we would’ve liked to have seen, but ultimately, Joe will prevail."

As for when that might be, no one could say.

"Possibly we’ll all see each other back here tomorrow night!" Levin said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In Wilmington, supporters cheer Joe Biden with no clear winner