WS Chronicle

BY TODD LUCK 

THE CHRONICLE

A crowd filled the new Winston-Salem campaign office of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during its Thursday, Sept. 15 opening.

With a little more than two months until Election Day, polls show the race between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump tightening. The Real Clear Politics average of polls has tended to show Clinton leading in the last few months, but that lead has shrunk to less than a percentage point both nationally and in North Carolina.

Hillary for North Carolina has opened 33 coordinated campaign offices and recruited more than 40,000 volunteers statewide. The Winston-Salem office was one of four field offices the campaign opened last Thursday.

City Council Member D.D. Adams fired up the crowd, repeating what she told Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, who participated in a forum with Adams at Wake Forest University last week.

“We got this, Forsyth County will be blue!” she said.

Afterwards, Adams said she believed that Clinton, a former lawyer, first lady, senator and secretary of state, was the most qualified candidate. She said it’ll take a huge voter turnout of the African-Americans , women and young people that helped elect President Barak Obama to win North Carolina and keep the presidency in Democratic hands.

“If we expect to move the needle as much as President Obama has moved it in his eight years, we need Hillary Clinton,” she said.

Regional Organizing Coordinator Emma Goodacre told attendees that the Affordable Care Act, which ended pre-existing conditions and made it possible for mil-lions more Americans to get health insurance, was foremost on her mind in this campaign. She said her brother went six weeks without medical care for his cancer because he was scared of being denied insurance due to a preexisting condition, and finally sought care when ACA went into effect. Republicans have pledged to end the ACA and have tried to repeal it in Congress dozens of times.

“We can’t let the Republicans take these things away from us,” she said.

Among the many people listening in the audience was Attorney S. Wayne Patterson. He said he wanted to be a part of history, as the country elects its first female president. The former NAACP president said he felt Clinton will help the African-American community.

“I feel she understands the plight of the African-American community and not only that, but I think she’s one to stand up for low income individuals,” he said.

Also there was Dan Moury, a longtime Democrat who was an avid Bernie Sanders supporter in the primary and whose son, Jim, helped open a grass roots Sanders office in Winston-Salem during that contest.

“Hillary is the best candidate we got this election,” he said.

The Hillary for North Carolina office is located at 520 North Spring St.