Biden, Trump supporters crisscross Long Island in defense of their choice

The divisive election season stretched into Sunday on Long Island as defiant supporters of President Donald Trump caravaned and echoed his unsubstantiated claims of a stolen victory while groups of joyful Joe Biden backers celebrated.

Across Nassau and Suffolk, supporters of Biden and Trump came out on a warm and sunsplashed November day to praise their presidential choice and insist that their candidate would be the one taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2021.

A caravan of more than 1,000 Trump supporters drove from East Northport to Hauppauge. In some places along the route, onlookers cheered from roadsides and held signs praising the president and deriding his opponents.

The long line of cars, trucks and motorcycles honked their way east on Jericho Turnpike, with Trump and Blue Lives Matter flags fluttering behind bumpers and tape concealing many license plates.

The group convened in Hauppauge, where supporters held a boisterous tailgate outside a Suffolk County government building. Music blared from speakers mounted on pickup trucks, and merchants advertised discounted Trump T-shirts.

Many repeated Trump's questioning of the Tuesday election's integrity and his claim without evidence that Democratic officials as well as journalists had conspired against him.

"The election is being stolen from President Trump," said Susan Sanger, 59, of Long Island. She said she was "positive" that Trump won the election by "very big numbers."

There has been no evidence of widespread vote fraud. Some Republican elected officials around the country have begun to distance themselves from the president and urge him to accept the outcome.

The Associated Press projected that Biden would receive at least 290 electoral votes — more than the 270 needed to win the contest — and all other major news outlets projected that the former Democratic vice president had enough votes to be declared the winner.

Biden had also received more than 4 million additional votes than Trump as of Sunday.

Supporters of Biden danced in the parking lot at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station on Sunday afternoon as they gathered for a caravan of about 100 vehicles that traveled through Nassau communities and then back to Suffolk.

"You want to celebrate the fact that we defeated Trump and that diversity won in this election," said Shanequa Levin, 41, of Huntington Station, who organized the event with her daughter Ariana, 17. "Everyone was so happy, so thrilled to be part of the caravan, to be part of the winning side and the right side of history."

In Shirley, Biden and Black Lives Matter flags flew at an event supporting minority businesses and the BLM movement. About 100 supporters gathered outside an Applebee’s restaurant on Montauk Highway for the event organized by the group World Changers Women Unite.

Alex Ramos, of Bay Shore, was among those supporting the president-elect, waving a Biden flag and wearing a shirt bearing the name of the man on the brink of becoming the country's next commander in chief.

"We still have a lot of work to do. This is only the beginning," said Ramos, who is gay, adding that he felt marginalized under the Trump administration. "The country needs healing. We need to stop the bigotry, fighting against each other and come to unite."

Organizers said their fight for change had just begun.

"We're fighting for Black lives. We’re tired of being degraded based on our color," said Mary Jones, 20, the group’s founder.

Some of those passing by the Shirley rally honked in support while others with Trump flags affixed to their trucks drove by, yelling at the protesters.

At the Trump rally, Larry Reichardt, 55, of Quogue, held a Trump flag. He said the event was uplifting after an otherwise dispiriting week.

"I’m finding hope in the people here today," he said.

Reichardt said he would acknowledge Biden as the rightful winner if officials investigate and disprove the alleged election improprieties. But he doubts that will happen.

"I’m losing faith in the system," he said.

Not everyone who witnessed Sunday’s pro-Trump event was a supporter of the president.

"It’s insanity," said Rob Loughlin, 57, of East Northport, as he watched the procession of Trump backers pull out of a parking lot to begin their journey to Hauppauge. "They’re wasting their time."

Loughlin said he supported Trump in 2016 but this year cast his vote for Biden.

"I thought he’d be a decent guy," Loughlin said of Trump. "I’m very disappointed in what he did."

Hofstra Professor of Political Science Meena Bose said there's no reason to dispute the election outcome.

"To question the results, when a candidate has won the Electoral College vote as well as popular votes, is really surprising," Bose said. "There are no grounds for contesting the results. You might not like the results, but that’s democracy."

New York hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984. Still, passionate Long Island supporters had made shows of support for their candidates in the past few months.

In particular, Nassau and Suffolk Trump supporters flew flags outside homes, held boat parades in on-the-water flotillas and rumbled through streets in miles-long truck caravans in support of the president’s reelection.

In votes cast on Election Day, Trump was narrowly leading in Nassau County and well ahead in Suffolk. But each county has more than 150,000 absentee ballots that they have not started counting, according to election officials. Democratic absentee ballots outnumber Republican ballots 2 to 1.