Obviously, Tuesday did not go as we wanted or were hoping that it would. I know we’re all devastated. I’m devastated. I’m scared. I’m pissed. I can’t even properly enjoy that my adopted state, North Carolina, went blue in all of the big races, including defeating a member of Moms for Liberty for school superintendent. It sucks. We even gained two Democrats in our State House and broke up the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly!
So while there’s some, but not much, good news from yesterday, there is one story that I wanted to highlight. Paul Rudd made surprise appearances at both Temple University in Philadelphia and Villanova University in Villanova, PA to hand out water bottles to students who were waiting in line to vote. When asked by MSNBC what he was up to, he said that he thought it was “wonderful” that so many young people were voting and he just wanted to make sure they knew how awesome he thought it was that they were waiting in hours-long lines to do their patriotic duty.
Paul Rudd made a surprise appearance at universities in Pennsylvania to hand out water to students waiting in hours-long lines to vote. While reporting live from Philadelphia’s Temple University, MSNBC National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff spotted the “Ant-Man” and “I Love You, Man” star and sprinted over to him.
“Hey, Paul, I’m on live with Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC!” Soboroff said before asking the actor what brought him out to Pennsylvania voting lines.
“I just wanted to give people water,” Rudd said. “They’re waiting in line for a long time, and it’s a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting.”
When Soboroff told Rudd that some people have waited up to two hours to vote, Rudd said, “That’s impressive.”
“We’ve been doing lots of stuff today here in Pennsylvania,” Rudd said. “We wanted to come out and tell these students they’re doing really great things.”
Soboroff then asked Rudd how he felt about the election, prompting Rudd to laugh and say, wryly, “I feel good about handing out some waters!”
Soboroff left Rudd and continued to interview voters, stopping to talk to a first-time voter, a young Black woman, who said it wasn’t hard to make up her mind. “It’s been ready to go, out the gate,” she said. “I didn’t need to hear people talking in my ear.”
Rudd then appeared behind them. “Want a water from Paul Rudd?” Soboroff asked. “Yes, I do!” she exclaimed, and handed her phone to Soboroff so he could take a photo of the two of them.
Based on photos posted to X, Rudd also showed support for students waiting to vote at Villanova University, which is located less than an hour from Temple. During the 2020 election, Rudd made headlines for handing out cookies to people standing in the rain while waiting to vote in Brooklyn, N.Y.
I had completely forgotten about Paul handing out cookies in Brooklyn in 2020. He’s such a sweetheart. It’s pretty awesome that he does these things without being invited or announcing it to draw attention to it. And now those students at least have a cool story to tell about an otherwise depressing day.
When I heard about Paul’s good deeds, it got me thinking. I don’t know what comes next, but I do know this: It’s dark right now, but there are always going to be good people like Paul Rudd who are going to be there to help. We (Kamala voters) need to do that for each other right now. Look for the helpers when you need one. When you’re feeling up to it, try to be a helper for someone else who’s struggling. There are still almost 68 million people in this country who came out to do the right thing. We have to find each other and stick together because it’s the only way that we’ll get through whatever the next four years are going to bring.
Photos credit: Oscar Gonzalez/Wenn/Avalon, Imago/RW/Avalon