Sanders
from pagt A1
local volunteers. Sanders, a
74-year-old Vermont sena
tor, has become known for
drawing large crowds at his
events and for the enthusi
asm of his supporters. He's
raised more money than
any presidential candidate
except Hillary Clinton,
who he's competing
against for the Democratic
nomination.
On Friday, Jan. 8, the
office held its first phone
bank, as volunteers called
primary states like Iowa
and South Carolina trying
to mobilize voters for
Sanders. The smell of fresh
paint hung in the air as vol
unteers had just finished
cleaning and painting the
walls. Space heaters were
the only source of warmth
since the heating system
wasn't working yet.
Volunteers brought in their
own laptops or mobile
devices and phones to call
voters using the cam
paign's online tools.
"It's very much a grass
roots effort and that means
that supporters are donat
ing their time, money and
supplies," said volunteer
Rebekah Ricardo. "We're
willing to do that because
of how much we want
Bernie to win and how
strongly we feel about the
good he can do for this
country."
Sam Little was among
the volunteers at the phone
bank. The 27-year-old said
Sanders support of things
like free college tuition
make him appealing to
young people. She said that
she feels that Sanders sup
port will grow among
African-Americans like
her. She pointed out that
Sanders is not only a long
time civil rights activist but
has also been consistently
active on the issue of eco
nomic inequality, which
was among the major caus
es of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.
"I think he's not as well
known to minorities as
Hillary Clinton, but if they
learn who he is and what
his policies are, they'll see
that he's more beneficial to
them," she said.
Sanders was arrested in
1962 while protesting seg
regation at the University
of Chicago and participat
ed in the 1963 March on
Washington. He's spoken
out against mass incarcera
tion and the death penalty
his entire career. In 1988,
he endorsed civil rights
leader Jesse Jackson for
president.
Lany Little, a Winston
Salem State University
professor and longtime
local activist, stopped by to
see the office during the
phone bank. He is a long
time supporter of Sanders,
because of the senator's
devotion to things like civil
rights and economic jus
tice. He too said Clinton's
dominance among black
voters comes from famil
iarity. Those who don't fol
low politics closely would
n't know about Sanders'
history, but he said but he'll
be trying to. change that
locally, by stirring up sup
port in the black communi
ty for Sanders.
"There are a lot of us
who follow these things
carefully, we just have to
take his message out
there," said Larry Little,
who is Sam Little's father.
Volunteer Angela
Savitri, who switched her
party affiliation from unaf
filiated to Democrat so she
could vote for Sanders in
the primary, also said she
had many reasons to like
Sanders, including his sup
port for getting big money
out of politics, paid
parental leave, economic
parity and environmental
issues.
"He is the only candi
date in my lifetime who
cares more about humani
tarian values than solely
Sam Little
Larry Little
economic ones," said
Savitri, who is 38.
While these positions
may be shared by Sanders'
primary opponents like
Clinton, it's Sanders con
sistency throughout his
career on those issues that
makes him unique, said
Photos By Tbdd Luck
Signs for Bernie Sanders stand along the waU of his
new campaign office on Waughtown Street.
Savitiri. He also doesn't
have an affiliated Super
PAC? unlike Clinton and
most presidential candi
dates, which she believes
will make him less behold
en to big money special
interests.
Sanders is supported by
a Super PAC that's not
affiliated with his cam
paign, called National
Nurses United for Patient
Protection. Unlike other
Super PACs, it is funded by
union dues, not contribu
tions from wealthy donors.
Sanders has repeatedly said
he will not raise money for
any Super PAC.
Photos By Todd Luck
Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey tells Forsyth County Senior Democrats why he should get Democratic
nomination for Senate.
Rey
from page A1
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he'd like to repeat, but this time against
incumbent Republican Senator Richard
Burr.
"This campaign is about believing,"
Rey told ?
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no mistake about it, can be beat."
Rey is running in the Democratic pri
mary against two opponents for the chance
to take on Burr, a two-term Republican
incumbent. Rey, who grew up in and
around Spring Lake, became the youngest
mayor in the town's history when he was
elected at 34 years old. Spring Lake had an
estimated population of 13J037 in 2013.
It's a small, rural town, oftentimes
unknown to people in other parts of the
state, Rey said that he believes that to be
an'hsset, not a weakness, of his campaign,
allowing him to connect with voters.
"The majority of the folks I connect
with, even though a lot of them may live in
these big cities, just about everyone who
came up and spoke to me this morning is
from a small town," said.Rey, who's been
reelected unopposed twice.
Rey said he'd left Spring Lake years
ago but found that it had become a town
"in transition and not in the right way" and
that inspired him to come back to run for
mayor.
Spring Lake was badly in need of jobs,
economic development and infrastructure
? improvements. The town was also recov
ering from a police scandal that caused its
police force, which has less than 30 sworn
officers, to lose its authority in 2009, with
the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office
taking over law enforcement in the town.
He said the town has transformed over
the last four years. The reformed police
department got its full authority back in
2013 and has implemented body cameras.
He said that economic development has
ifnproved as he's attended many ribbon
cuttings and ground breakings.
However, Spring Lake still has serious
economic challenges. The town is next to
Fort Bragg and its economy is dependent
on those who work at the base. Job cuts at
the base, caused by the across-the-board
government cuts of the 2013 sequester,
"How do you
vote against the
interests of
your state?"
-Chris Rey
hurt the local economy. Rey said that
Burr's vote for the sequester helped spur
him to run for Senate.
"How do you vote against the interests
of your stateT* Rey said.
The sequester was part of the bi-parti
san 2011 Budget Control Act, which creat
ed automatic cuts if a congressional "super
committee" could not agree on a way to
rcdude the deficit by $1.2 trillion over ten
years, which it failed to do. Burr has said
that voting for the act was a "big regret" of
his.
Rey's mayoral career is just part of the
biography he touted. He's an Army veteran
who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan
and was awarded the Bronze Star.
After his time in the military, he
Terry
Griffin
interned for Representative John Lewis.
Rey said he learned a lot from Lewis and
made an impression on the Georgia law
maker and civil rights leader. -
"He said to me, 'Young brother, you're
going to run for office one day,'" Rey
recounted, doing his best impression of
Lewis. "And I told him I was never, ever
going to run for office one day. He was
like, 'No, no you will and when you do, I
wifl be therg for you.'"
Lewis was true to his word and made
appearances for Rey in his mayoral cam
paigns. Rey is a member of '
the National Guard and has
also worked on cyber securi
ty policy for the Department
of Defense. He is executive
director of Cumberland
HealthNET, a non-profit
organization that connects
the uninsured with health
care in Cumberland County.
Rey said that among his
priorities if elected would be
Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey chats with attendees
after the meeting.
investing in public education, taking care
of veterans and their families, closing the
gender pay gap and helping those in the
lower and middle class.
During Q&A, former County
Commissioner Beaufort Bailey asked Rey
how he would work with the "sorry con
servatives in the Senate" if he won the
seat. Rey responded that his time as mayor
prepared him to work across the aisle and
get results.
"As a mayor of a city, it doesn't matter
if you're a Republican or Democrat, I had
to get things done," Rey said.
Mildred Griffin, a regular at the Senior
Democrats meetings, said she was
impressed by Rey. /
"He's dynamic, I just love him," she
said. "He has a lot of experience in leader
ship."
Senior Democrat Chair Fred Terry, the
husband of N.C. Rep Evelyn Terry who
also attended the meeting, said that next
month Senior Democrats will be hearing
from one of Rey's primary opponents,
Kevin Griffin, a Pfafftown native who is
CEO of a staffing firm in Durham.
"The vote in Forsyth County is critical
for any candidate running for statewide
office," said Fred Terry.
Deborah Ross, a former Democratic
N.C. representative, is also running for the
seat and is the early favorite in the polls.
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