GREEN BAY, WI -- One day after a major upset at the polls, Democrats across the country are reflecting on an outcome that, for some, has been tough to swallow.
Now, party leaders are looking inward before reaching out to a voter base they seem to have lost this time around.
After disappointing results across the board, Democrats are doing some soul searching.
"We have a lot of things to evaluate for the democrats," says Democratic Party of Brown County Chair Mary Ginnebaugh.
She says she's proud of Wisconsin breaking records with early voting. Many Democrats were hoping a surge in early voting would boost voter turnout among groups, like millennials.
"I think early voting clearly is an asset for anybody that wants to vote, and can vote," adds Ginnebaugh.
But she and other Democrats are concerned by the fact Hillary Clinton's message didn't bring African American, Latino, and young voters to the polls like President Obama, or even Bernie Sanders.
"Sometimes, they feel like, 'well, I don't have a chance or not, and they're not going to vote," says NWTC American Government instructor Lance Kelley, "and that affects [turnout]."
Another demographic Democrats seem to have lost this time around is working class white voters in Wisconsin.
On Tuesday night, the same group that helped elect President Obama twice took their voices to the polls for Trump, particularly in the state's rural areas, expressing frustrations with a "rigged system" and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the Badger State.
Sanders supporters NBC26 has spoken with, in particular, are expressing bitterness toward the fact that anger toward a "rigged" economy--a similar message that Trump used to successfully connect with voters--was a message that Sanders seemed to be using to draw such massive crowds during his campaign.
"I think we just need to continue to work together, and to listen and talk to each other about what is important for the people here," says Ginnebaugh, "in this community... and this state."
For now, Ginnebaugh says many Democrats are hoping that Republicans are willing to make compromise part of the next four years.
