Bernie Sanders for Morgan Carroll
On Saturday, Nov. 5, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke at ThunderRidge High School in support of congressional candidate Morgan Carroll. Even though Democrats showed up to the rally, Republicans showed up at the polls as Douglas County voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump.
The support for both Sanders and Carroll was evident throughout the rally, which lasted about two hours.
“Carroll is, I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to her talk, but she is a very down to Earth person,” said Mike Jones, Chairman of the Douglas County Democrats. “She really cares about people, and she wants to do what is good for people not what is good for a particular party. That’s really what has impressed me the most about her.”
One organization that showed support for Carroll was The Sierra Club, an organization that works together to preserve the environment. The Sierra Club had representatives at the rally distributing t-shirts, posters, and stickers promoting action against global warming.
“We’re just trying to support these candidates, like Morgan Carroll, to make sure they get into office. In the future when there’s a major issue, like an oil spill, we can hold them accountable for protecting our planet,” said Kimberly Pope with the Sierra Club.
U. S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar spoke for about 20 minutes before Carroll, and he urged people to vote for Carroll, because of her values.
Then Carroll, who was grateful for the large turnout, urged her supporters to then take action and vote. Then, while in front of the cheering crowd, Sanders, who spoke for about 45 minutes, echoed her sentiments and touched on a number of topics including student loan debt relief, the economy, climate change, and an increase in the federal minimum wage. After seeing the support from the cheering crowd, he predicted that Douglas County would vote blue. However, Douglas County and Weld County were the only two metropolitan counties in Colorado that voted Republican.
Students also came to the rally to support Carroll.
“I support Hillary Clinton, because she believes that women’s rights are human rights, gay rights are human rights, and I honestly trust her. I trust her to take care of this country. I trust her indefinitely to help preserve our climate, educational rights, and rights for women and people of color,” said ThunderRidge High School senior Julia Hegele, who was devastated by Clinton’s defeat on election night.
While Hegele supported Clinton, many other TR students did not. In a mock election held on Nov. 4, students voted for Donald Trump, in a preview of how the county and the country would vote. The results: 619 students voted for Trump, 514 for Clinton, 150 for Johnson, and Stein won 24 votes.
