WS Chronicle

BY TODD LUCK

THE CHRONICLE

First lady Michelle Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton campaigned at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday, Oct. 27.

Many Democrats spoke before Obama and Clinton took to the stage. A group of black Democratic representatives from several states where joined on the stage by the Rev. Jesse Jackson as North Carolina’s Rep. Alma Adams and Rep. G. K. Butterfield both voiced their support for Clinton.

Adams, who represents the 12th District that contains Mecklenburg County, praised Clinton for how she handled the Charlotte riots that were triggered by a police  shooting earlier this year.

She said Clinton didn’t just speak when she came to the city, she also listened to those who felt they had been marginalized.

“I know we can trust Hillary to listen to our community.” said Adams. Debra Ross, who is challenging Sen. Richard Burr criticized her opponent’s support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The crowd cheered as Ross called on “nasty women” to organize, a callback to what Trump called Clinton in the final debate. “He forgot that nasty women vote,” she said. Ross said Burr calls her “radical”  but that her positions on things like equal pay for women, raising the minimum wage, increasing pell grants and refinancing student loans are in keeping with what voters want.

Kay Hagan, a former senator, said that Clinton will do great things for the state. She compared Clinton’s plan to invest in infrastructure to the creation of the transcontinental railroad and United States highway system.

Linda Coleman, who is running to unseat Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, hit her opponent on both his support of Trump HB 2.

HB 2 is a state law that requires people to use public restrooms that coincides with the sex on their birth certificates.

This has caused boycotts and backlash from those who say it’s discriminatory, since it forces transgender individuals to use a restroom of a gender they don’t identify with. Forest has justified it by saying it’s protecting women from sexual assault, but Coleman said that Forest still supports Donald Trump, who she said has assaulted many women.

Trump bragged about groping women in a 2005 tape and several women have accused him  of doing exactly that. Trump has since denied he ever groped anyone.

There has been no evidence of increased sexual assault in restrooms in the many other cities across the nation that allow transgender people to use the restroom of the gender they identify with.

Local elected officials also spoke. Mayor Allen Joines said he felt that the rally was a great testimony to Winston-Salem, which he called an “inclusive and progressive city.”

He had high praise for Clinton, who he said was “the most qualified person to ever run for president in the history of the country.”

He described Trump as a “dangerous and volatile” candidate that scares him.

“This election is about who we choose to be as a people and a country,” said Joines.

City Council Member Denise “D.D.” Adams, who represents the North Ward that contains the coliseum, said that Winston-Salem was turning out the vote.

She said the line at Brown Douglas Recreation Center when she voted earlier that day was out the door. Democrats will need every vote they can get, she said.