Athens Democrats rally together with support of State Sen. Nina Turner
State Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland, had a busy night campaigning Tuesday when she made a four-hour stop in Athens to promote her run for Ohio Secretary of State with a handful of city officials arriving to voice their support during her three events uptown.
Turner came to Athens to speak with citizens about her plan to empower voters and strengthen small businesses. After a campaign stop in Zanesville earlier in the afternoon, she visited Village Bakery and Cafe, The Pigskin Bar and Grille and Baker University Center to speak with Ohio University College Democrats at the end of the evening.
The senator visited Village Bakery & Cafe, 268 E. State St., first to speak with local small-business owners about her plan to create a “chat line,” which would allow entrepreneurs to connect with representatives from the Secretary of State’s office in Columbus.
“I’m excited,” Turner said of her discussion. “Business owners are being very forthright.”
Turner’s second stop was at The Pigskin Bar and Grille, 38 N. Court Street, for a fundraising event with fellow Democrat Scott Wharton, a Congressional candidate for Ohio’s 15th District, newcomer to Ohio politics and OU grad. With roughly 60 people in attendance, the events at The Pigskin were the largest of the night.
Turner and Wharton turned their discussion at The Pigskin to making sure Democrat voters went to the polls on Nov. 4 to vote in the general election. Both candidates pointed out the importance of registering to vote, the simplification of absentee ballots and longer voting hours.
Turner reminded the attendees of how current Secretary of State Republican Jon Husted cut voting hours during the last major election, making it hard for those with a long work day to vote into the evening.
“If we don’t like what’s going on here, we have to lift our voice, because the power lies in the hands of the people,” she said.
Wharton criticized the state’s Congressional representatives for being unproductive, blaming the fact that many of the members from the previous session of Congress were re-elected.
“It would be insane to send my opponent back to Congress and expect anything other than gridlock and shutdown,” he said.
Later, the two candidates were joined by State Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, at Baker University Center to speak with Ohio University’s College Democrats.
Mark Bowman, a first-year graduate student at the event, said he was impressed by Turner’s speech.
“She got me really excited to go out and vote and get people in here (to College Democrats meetings),” Bowman said.
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