When several media outlets declared Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election last Saturday, Manoj Uppal didn’t think anything of it. But shortly thereafter, dozens of customers began flooding into his liquor store, Barrett Liquors in Louisville, Kentucky, all with the same idea: They were going to celebrate.
Uppal’s store, like thousands of other liquor stores across the country, had a hard time keeping Champagne on the shelves that night, according to multiple reports. “The best way to put it is it was like New Year’s Eve,” John Johnson, the sommelier and owner of the Wine Rack in Crescent Hill, Kentucky, told the Courier Journal. “It was a really fun day to be working and watch that.”
Alcohol sales spiked well before Biden was declared the projected winner, though. Heading into Election Day, searches for “liquor stores near me” reached record highs, according to Vox. Drizly, an alcohol delivery company, said it saw a 75.23% increase in sales on election night in the blue states and cities that it services. In Washington, D.C., for example, Drizly said sales rose 133%; in New York City, 110%; and in Los Angeles, 35%. In the red-leaning states, sales were only 33% higher. And in the swing states, sales went up by 54.84%.
Marijuana was also in high demand. Eaze, a marijuana delivery service, said it saw a 17% increase in California deliveries on Election Day. Pre-rolled joints and vaporizers were the most frequently ordered products that day, the company said. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford explained this likely meant “that consumers were looking for products that would provide faster onset effects.”
All of this suggests that people went into Election Day feeling anxious for one reason or another. And they looked to alcohol, marijuana, and comfort food for relief. When the networks called the election for Biden, the preferred candidate of young people with disposable income, that caused the second wave of alcohol purchases.
“The overall mood was very good — a lot of relief, a lot of happy people, and a lot of joy,” Johnson said of the customers who visited his store to purchase celebratory Champagne. “A lot of customers would say they just felt lighter than they had felt in years. The whole weight of everything with the election was visible on people for weeks going in.”
