Americans based in Hawke's Bay have high hopes and fears for the United State's political future ahead of next week's election. Photo / AFP
Americans based in Hawke's Bay have high hopes and fears for the United State's political future ahead of next week's election. Photo / AFP
Hawke’s Bay-based American voters Daniel Brennan and Robin McKnight reflect on the upcoming US election.
Brennan says he’s worried about potential tariffs on his wine exports if Trump wins a second term.
McKnight believes America needs Trump and says he’s the best man for the job.
As Americans prepare to head to the polls on Wednesday (New Zealand time), Hawke’s Bay-based voters are wondering what kind of United States they will wake to.
Owner of Hastings Decibel Wines and podcast host, Daniel Brennan who hails from Pennsylvania, moved to Hawke’s Bay 17 years ago in part because of his frustration with the George W. Bush presidency.
Brennan thinks it’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks “or longer”.
“I think it’s going to be a long count; I don’t even think it’s going to be a winner announced on the night. I think it’s going to be into the next day for them at least – it’ll be during our maybe waking hours that we’ll find out who wins.”
Brennan believes it will come down to Pennsylvania, Michigan, other counties in North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin where the winner will be decided.
“I wish I was confident, but I think it could be a blowout in either direction. There are some people that think they know either way what is going to happen, but I don’t.”
Philadelphia-born Hastings businessman Daniel Brennan is worried that a Trump presidency will hurt his US wine exports with tariffs. Photo / Jack Riddell
Brennan says he is worried what a second term in the White House for Trump could mean for his wine exports from Hawke’s Bay.
“I think New Zealand better get ready for some tariffs if Trump get elected. I send a lot of wine to the US, so if he wins and does what he says he’s going to do then it could be problems for people trying to send products to the US.”
“His first presidency showed a lot of being pretty inept and not getting a lot done. But tariffs are pretty easy to get done, that’s something a president can easily do.”
On the other side of America’s political divide sits Napier’s Robin McKnight, originally from Oregon.
She believes America needs change in the form of Trump, but McKnight said what she had seen and heard suggested Americans had never been so divided.
She describes the situation in her motherland as “actually quite heartbreaking”.
“Most Americans want to live in harmony with each other - and it doesn’t matter what your skin colour is - to support and protect their families, to feel safe, to have safe neighbourhoods, to have community, to live their faith, to love family and friends.”
McKnight has been getting her information from what friends and family back home have been telling her, because in her view the American media “has become so biased and one-sided that we try not to listen to it any more”.
A few years ago in Texas, McKnight said she and her family were talking to some businessmen over lunch about what they thought of Trump, to which one laughed and replied, “that’s a loaded question”.
“But from what he had seen, Trump did what he said he was going to do - local businesses were growing, employing more people, manufacturing was growing, schools were getting back to the basics, people were working, he was trying to stop illegal immigration.
“I believe Trump does care about America and its people. I believe he is the best one for the job of making America great again.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region, along with pieces on art, music, and culture.
