In a divided nation, Trump won over frustrated voters like Apiyo Charles

Apiyo Charles, 22, of Gorham voted for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Nov. 5. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)

Apiyo Charles of Gorham voted for President Joe Biden last presidential election, the first time she was old enough to vote.

Four years later, the 22-year-old cast her vote Tuesday for Republican nominee Donald Trump.

One of her key deciding factors: immigration.

Charles was born in a refugee camp in Uganda. Her family is originally from South Sudan and they came to the United States in 2008. "I'd never liked politics," Charles said. But as she got older, she started to plug in more and do her own research, she said.

"I understand when Americans are like, 'You are welcome but you have to stay in line and come through legally,'" Charles said. "If I was in my country and there were other people coming but I see my people not being taken care of, I would feel the exact same way."

Overall, she ultimately felt her priorities would be better served by Trump, Charles explained at Deering High School in Portland Tuesday afternoon, waiting for a friend to cast a ballot.

The nation agreed, as the former president won a decisive victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which The Associated Press called early Wednesday when Trump's win in Wisconsin put him over the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to clinch the presidency.

The comeback validates his appeal to frustrated voters like Charles.

Charles listed off some of her other priority issues: "the tax prices, the grocery prices, all of that." She is also frustrated with U.S. spending on issues abroad, such as the Russia-Ukraine war. "Most of my Christian beliefs align more with Trump than Harris," Charles said, explaining that she does not support abortion.

Harris picked up Maine's 1st Congressional District and is likely to win the statewide vote. But, as predicted, Trump an electoral vote from Maine's 2nd Congressional District, marking the third consecutive election he's done so. Maine is one of two states that allow for split electoral votes, which did not occur until 2016 when CD2 went for Trump.

Several voters in the 2nd District told Maine Morning Star in the lead up to Election Day that they were voting for Trump in order to, in their view, save America. Much like Charles, immigration and the economy were top of mind. Some had long voted Republican, like Magdalena and Fred Elwell, a mother and son, from Topsham and Auburn, respectively.

"We're a Republican family," Magdalena said.

But for people like Charles, their votes transcend party loyalties and speak to exasperation with the status quo.

"The Democrats have been in office for the last four years and I feel like if there's new policies coming up we should have done something prior to this election," Charles said, "so part of me feels like this was kind of a 'save the policies for this election' and then start new. You had the opportunity the past four years.

"I would have continued to vote Democratic, but I feel like not enough change has been done."

While the president has overarching authority on some areas, a lot of policy change at the federal level requires the approval of Congress, which has been divided during the current administration. One example of this was a bipartisan immigration deal that Republicans pulled out of after Trump said it would be a political gift to Biden.

However, on Tuesday Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate and are fighting to keep their majority in the U.S. House, which would produce a GOP trifecta with President-elect Trump in the White House. If Democrats manage to flip the House, maintaining a divided Congress, it would mean continued obstacles for achieving leadership's goals.

Control of the U.S. House was still too early to call by Wednesday morning.

Charles shared some doubts about election integrity, echoing other Republican voters across the state and Trump, who ramped up unsubstantiated claims about noncitizen voting this election cycle. Despite fears, violence did not materialize on Tuesday, although threats of violence, which turned out to be hoaxes, occurred in Maine and disrupted voting in some battleground states.

Maine voter concerns about election security also had roots in the former president's refusal to accept defeat against Biden in 2020.

When Trump lost the election in 2020, a group of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack the FBI has classified as domestic terrorism that threatened the peaceful transfer of power, resulted in several deaths and injured approximately 140 police officers. The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee that Trump was the central cause of the attack, but some Maine voters they didn't hold Trump accountable and questioned whether election results this year would be credible.

Charles also said Trump's rhetoric, laden with insults and threats, did not supersede her belief that he would better serve her interests. "I think we have to separate emotions from politics," Charles said.

This, too, was a view shared by others who cast votes in his favor, some of whom felt Trump had toned down his rhetoric this election cycle, including Erin Larsen of Sanford, who said she doesn't like some of Trump's derogatory comments but overall believed he had "cleaned up."

This is despite researchers finding the opposite. Rather, political scientists and historians warn Trump's speeches and social media posts have become darker and more violent since his political career began in 2015.

Despite this increasingly divisive and threatening trend in Trump's speech, Charles, Larsen and other Republican voters in Maine said they still personally want the heat of political rhetoric to be toned down.

"As someone who is a person of color voting for Trump, I feel like sometimes it is difficult because you feel judged or very shameful," Charles said. "I don't want it to be like that."