Jersey Mike’s on Election Day

Election Day 2:25 p.m.

Tucked away in the corner, a girl looked up from the brim of her MAGA hat and before looking back down at her food, said she was “just eating lunch with her brother,” declining to comment on Election Day. Her brother also decided he was not interested in commenting.

In the Jersey Mikes on 13th Avenue, the University of Oregon’s closest off-campus sandwich shop, election anxiety infiltrated the joint.

Folding her hands nervously in her apron, shift lead Nafisch Timmons, who has worked at Jersey Mike’s for two years, said, “Either outcome I’m worried about. I understand that Trump is the worst outcome, but also the Democratic Party hasn’t helped enough, and I’m just wishing for the best to happen.”

Another shift lead, Bandy Nagel, let out a laugh when she claimed to be opinionated about the election.

After emphasizing she was stressed, she said, “I’m a single mom, and I’m feeling very insecure about Trump’s 2025 plan.”

To cope with her election anxiety, Nagel thinks about her family.

“I’m just thinking about the fact that I’m gonna go home to my kid, and no matter what happens, I have my baby to go home to,” she said.

She also advised other people with election anxiety to lean on their family.

“Lean on anyone that supports you, stick close to them, and honestly, they’re all that matters right now,” Nagel said.

Originally from Texas, UO student Eleanor Wilson, while eating her lunch, said she was terrified.

“It’s very hit or miss with my friends back home. That’s made a lot of friendships back home a little difficult because I just can’t be friends with certain people who don’t believe in human rights,” she said.

After eating sandwiches with her friend Grace Craven, Cat Borowsky said she feels “cautiously optimistic, but also kind of terrified. It’s the only thing I’ve thought about since I woke up.”

Both friends considered themselves “vocal” about the election.

“I’m feeling a little bit crazed and nervous,” Craven said. “I want to be optimistic, but it’s hard, because I live in a bubble of people that have voted the same way that I have, or that have voted at all. I’m worried that a lot of other people haven’t voted, and in my eyes, that’s a vote for the wrong party.”