The community of Springfield, Ohio, became a flashpoint during the 2024 presidential election. Now, with Trump’s resounding win, how is the city thinking about its future? As a collective community, how do they plan to move forward after the 2024 presidential election? Rich-Joseph Facun for NBC News
Residents in Springfield, Ohio, are trying to move on after Trump’s rhetoric about Haitian migrants. Some now worry he could make an example of them.
Nov. 16, 2024, 1:00 PM UTC
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — In the months leading up to Election Day, political signs and billboards dotted much of the landscape surrounding this town in southwestern Ohio. By that weekend, many were gone.
Residents, tired and frustrated after their hometown became a national flashpoint in the election over immigration, were trying to move past the intense scrutiny and refocus on the future.
“It is what it is. We have to live with it,” Jean Philistin, a Haitian resident of Springfield, said of Donald Trump’s victory. “The American people, they wanted him and they elected him.”
Only a couple of months ago, Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, helped perpetuate false rumors about Haitian residents in Springfield eating pets and local wildlife even after city and county officials denied the claims.
The city became a kind of parable of the strains that accompany a sudden influx of migrants, such as rising rents and longer wait times for medical and social services, making Springfield fodder for pro-Trump partisans who then used racist claims to bring it to a national audience.
After the election, NBC News returned to the town and spoke with more than a dozen residents who offered a mix of hope and fear about the weeks, months and years to come. Mostly, they were hesitant to talk about the election even after its decisive conclusion.
American and Trump flags adorn the parking lot of small shopping strip mall.Rich-Joseph Facun for NBC News
Philistin, who became an American citizen two years ago and voted for the first time, remains unsettled by the election results. He voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and has relatives in New Jersey who voted for Trump.
He said they were attracted to Trump’s economic policies, but his rhetoric on immigration went too far for Philistin, and he said he fears they don’t understand how some of Trump’s policies could impact other Haitians.
On election night, Philistin was glued to the TV, he said. A week later, he wondered how a Trump White House will affect his community.
“I’m nervous, but I’m not upset,” he said.
Support for Trump did not waver in the reliably conservative Clark County despite his false claims about Springfield.
Trump won 64% of the vote in the county, up from 61% in 2020. Fueled by economic concerns, a red wave walloped Democratic lawmakers across Ohio.