This upcoming Tuesday, interested Long Beach residents will see four City Council incumbents sworn into a four-year term. What most interested residents won’t see are the celebratory parties that happen afterwards, including the several that will bring sprawling party hoppers from one restaurant or bar another.
It reminds me of a practice similar to the one I just described—that of the election night party, and specifically, the election night party-hopper.
It also reminds me of a time that I hopped into an SUV with a City Councilmember (who was driving), his staff member, and a friendly neighborhood activist, and drove with glee and excitement from one local election party to the next, like four young college students who just turned 21.
There are always different types of feels to political victory parties, all of them with a different inviting appeal. There was the establishment party; crowded with die-hards and flatterers alike, all taking the time to eat the free food and drink cheap wine, many of them uninterested in the results flashing across the television screen. There is the anti-establishment party, with many more die-hard party-goers than the establishment party, but if the anti-establishment looks like they will turn out the establishment, expect many more new faces to turn up at the end of the night.
There is the neighborhood sleeper party, which in our case had taken a surprisingly early lead that night. The people at this one are driven less by ideology, or opportunity of gain, but rather by friendship, loyalty, or familial relationships. There are less flatterers here than anywhere else also, because even if winning, the flatterers don’t know where the party is.
The last (of many more not mentioned here) is the honorable underdog who expectedly loses party. Many times held at someone’s backyard or living room, and in our case that night, the large recreation facility of the candidate’s campaign manager. There are only die-hard supporters here, and half of those have already gone home by the time we arrived. The best food is gone, cheese cubes are still in abundance though, and the candidate and their supporters have all been reconciled to the fact that their long shot hopes at victory will have to wait until another day.
Why go to more than one party, you may ask? The simple reason is that in a city this small, you can have friends in every campaign, and if you stay out of it, you want to wish the first party “the best of luck”, the second party “congratulations”, and the third or more parties a “better luck next time”.
This Tuesday’s parties will all be joyous and full of die-hards and flatterers, as three of the City Council members went unopposed, and the fourth crushed his opponent.
If you are one of the interested public who has never seen the after party, I suggest you stop by one of them. Nobody ever checks names at the door, and if you happen to be a constituent, you may turn out being one of small handful, and thus relegated to celebrity status.