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A day after Joe Biden secured his bid for the White House, hundreds of North Texans turned out to support President Donald Trump by calling for investigations of the election’s outcome.
Events in Grapevine and Rockwall were filled with Trump 2020 flags and fervor, but not everyone was stunned by his opponent’s victory.
“I was not surprised,” said 18-year-old Colin McCullough at the “Silent No More” rally in Grapevine. “I knew it was coming. But I’ll stop when President Trump stops.”
McCullough, who said he plans to attend at least two similar events in the next week, was among about 150 people who gathered about 1 p.m. downtown for the protest led by the Grapevine Republican Club.
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He and many others in the crowd lined Main Street, holding signs that said, “Stop the steal” and “Make America fair again.”
Anne Gebhart, who brought several of her children to the protest, said she came to call for fair elections.
“This is about making sure that every legitimate vote is counted and that the proper person wins, whoever that is,” she said. “I’m happy with whoever wins, but I want a fair process.”
Sunday’s rally in Grapevine included speeches from Bear Creek Bible Church senior pastor John Salvesen and conservative commentator Nick Adams, both of whom demanded an investigation into Tuesday’s election.
Adams, who is Australian-born and lives in Colleyville, said he’d been disappointed in GOP members who had not shown enough support for the president and “thrown in the towel.”
“Anybody that has significant standing right now in the Republican Party should be out there fighting for Donald Trump,” he said. “I would like to see these Republicans out there saying, ‘Look, we need to make sure every legal vote is counted, and we need to make sure that every illegal ballot is not counted.’ ”
He said President-elect Biden was hypocritical in his victory speech Saturday night when he asked Americans to “give each other a chance.”
“It’s great rhetoric, but it’s certainly not the way that the Democrats have behaved the last four years,” he said. “I think it’s a little rich all of a sudden for them to want to sing ‘Kumbaya’ with us when we were racists, misogynists and awful people and deplorables and ugly people … all of the different insults that were hurled at us.”
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At another rally later Sunday afternoon in Rockwall, several hundred people congregated outside the county courthouse for the “America Is Great” rally.
Among the speakers were politicians, including Shelley Luther, the Dallas salon owner turned Texas Senate candidate who faces a Dec. 19 runoff against fellow Republican Drew Springer in a special election to fill Pat Fallon’s unexpired term.
Henry Silvestriz-Lora, 38, said he couldn’t believe Trump had been defeated.
“They should redo the whole election,” he said. “[Biden] … didn’t have any passion. He didn’t move anybody. His rallies sucked. It was empty. How are you going to tell me that he has more votes than Obama?”
John Varela, a 43-year-old Van Zandt County resident, described Sunday’s event as “hopeful,” but he said the people there were more “concerned” than those who had gathered at other Trump rallies he attended over the last few years.
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“Nonetheless, we’re Trump supporters, so we know a lot goes on,” Varela said. “We’re still going to support him one way or the other.”
As the Rockwall rally drew to a close and country singer Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” blared, a procession of vehicles draped with American flags and Trump decals made its way toward Interstate 30.
Michelle Garcia, 40, said the afternoon had lifted her spirits. Wearing a pink shirt that read “Women for Trump,” she’d brought her 2-year-old son Nash so he could learn the importance of patriotism.
“I want him to grow up and understand the same America that I grew up in, feeling proud to be an American and feeling good about being an American,” she said. “I’m very patriotic, and I want him to have that same feeling — to love his country.”
Correction at 6:48 a.m. Nov. 9: Because of an editor’s error an earlier version of this article incorrectly said Shelley Luther faces a runoff Dec. 19 against incumbent Pat Fallon. She faces the runoff against Drew Springer to fill Fallon’s unexpired term in the state Senate.
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1/8A QAnon sticker on a car in the parking lot for an America is Great rally hosted by TrumpTrain 2020 DFW at Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. (Juan Figueroa/ The Dallas Morning News)(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)
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