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Even as a night chill fell, hundreds of supporters of President Trump milled about Beverly Gardens Park, as trucks adorned with "Make America Great Again" signs drove by honking.
That the media outlets had called the presidential race for former Vice President Joe Biden was upsetting to them, but rally-goers weren't giving up.
"I don’t believe them," said Denise Wells, with an American flag over her shoulders, who referred to the election results as "fake news."
"They called it too soon," she said. "We need to keep counting those votes."
Wells, a 49-year-old line cook who'd been laid off from a casino during the pandemic, had driven up from San Diego to support "my country, my patriots and my president."
As Biden addresses the country, 100’s of Trump supporters gather in Beverly Hills to challenge election results. “America first!” pic.twitter.com/vSwqqUhwmM
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) November 8, 2020
The "Freedom Rally" in Beverly Hills has been a weekly event since resident Shiva Bagheri organized the first one in the summer.
On Saturday, as Angelenos in several other parts of town took to the streets to celebrate Biden's win, the Trump rally in Beverly Hills lasted several hours, overlapping with the national address that Biden and his vice president-elect Sen. Kamala Harris made to the country.
According to NPR, Biden has received 290 electoral college votes — well above the 270 needed to win the presidency — compared to President Trump's 214 votes.
Those at the rally made unfounded claims about voting fraud, same as those made by Trump.
MAGA rallygoers have come from WeHo to West Hills to San Diego, sharing unfounded theories that ballot tampering & voting fraud have stolen the election from Trump pic.twitter.com/8uyPA6thYI
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) November 8, 2020
John Samore, an accountant from West L.A., said he hopes the Trump campaign will prevail in contesting vote counts. But he also braced himself for a Biden presidency.
"I'll tell you, there's gonna be a lot less patriotic spirit in the country," Samore said.
Samore said that he wants the mainstream media and "never-Trumpers" to hold Biden accountable.
"I don't want to hear 'Oh, we're now in a war with North Korea and Trump laid the foundation for that," Samore said." I don't want to hear any of that."
Eli Shumway, a 25-year-old West Hollywood resident who works in tech, said he thought there was "shifty stuff happening" with the ballots. But he said "if it was a clean election, I'm willing to give Mr. Biden a chance."
He gazed around at the other Trump supporters at the rally, calling some of them his "homies."
"None of these people are going to raise up arms," Shumway said. "We're going to wait this out. We're going to see how it all plays out."
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