At yesterday’s Buena Vista Labor Day event, at which Democrats appeared to outnumber Republicans despite Buena Vista being “Trump country,” there was a lot going on, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin practically getting booed off the stage; Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears delivering a bizarre tirade/speech that has to be seen to be believed; the VA GOP’s 2024 nominee for U.S. Senate, Hung Cao, simply didn’t show up; etc.
On a more positive note, Sen. Tim Kaine spoke – see below for video and highlights, including the part where Kaine had the following to say about his AWOL opponent:
“I had hoped to meet my opponent today. I have not met my opponent. I was supposed to meet him on July 20th at the first debate of the season in western Virginia but he cancelled. I understand he was at the parade today and he was invited to speak to you, but he decided he had better things to do. In this month of September he has cancelled a debate before the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, he’s cancelled a candidate forum before the AARP, he’s canceled a candidate forum between me and him at Virginia FREE. It doesn’t seem like he wants to meet up with me and have a conversation and answer questions that Virginia voters would have about him. This would have been a great event. What’s wrong with Buena Vista? What’s wrong with Buena Vista? I don’t think Buena Vista is Podunk. Hung Cao called Staunton Podunk. Maybe he thinks Buena Vista is Podunk. Buena Vista is just great. And if you want to represent Virginians, you should show up for Virginians in every part of the state.”
Also from Sen. Kaine:
- “When I came in 2001, Virginia had not voted for a Democrat for president for nearly 40 years. Now, the last four elections, Virginians have overwhemingly voted for Democrats to represent us in the White House and we’re going to do it for the fifth time in a row on November 5th. On November 5th, Virginians are putting their votes behind Kamala Harris and Tim Walz…We want to vote for Democrats in the White House and the reason is simple – Democrats deliver, Democrats deliver! Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, unemployment is at near-record lows, the stock market is near-record highs, the uninsured rate is at the lowest it’s been in the history of the United States, America is building again, America is manufacturing again – Democrats deliver!…”
- “For years, insurance companies could discriminate against you because you had pre-existing conditions. Democrats fixed that without a single Republican vote. For years, pharmaceutical companies could charge us whatever the heck they wanted, especially to seniors under Medicare. Democrats fixed that – we’re negotiating prescription drug prices, we’re saving American taxpayers and seniors $7.5 billion a year; we
couldn’t get one Republican vote for that. We couldn’t get one Republican vote for $35/month insulin. Democrats deliver.” - “Democrats, we deliver in Western Virginia. Folks, we’re repairing I-81, we’re building the Coal Fields Expressway. We’re expanding the Volvo plant in Dublin. I just got $2.5 million to build a new health clinic in downtown Buena Vista with Rockbridge and Lexington. We’re supporting student loan relief. We’re supporting improvement to water and wastewater systems all over this Commonwealth and in Western Virginia. Do you guys remember when Donald Trump used to talk about about infrastructure week and never did a damn thing to build anything in the infrastructure? We we only realized later when Donald Trump talked about infrastructure week, he was spelling it w-e-a-k. That’s why he never did anything. But under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, roads, bridges, airports, rail, public transit, ports, broadband. We are expanding rural broadband all over western Virginia because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Democrats deliver.”
- “And Democrats believe in democracy. You never would see a Democrat inspiring a violent attack on the United States capital to overturn the peaceful transfer of power. Democrats believe in democracy. I’m glad believing in democracy is an applause line for half the room, that is good to know. It ought to be an applause line for the entire room.”
- “And look, Gov. Youngkin was good to stand up and talk about the fact that one year that he was governor, Virginia was named the best state for business in the United States. When I was governor, all four years we were named the best state for business in the United States.”
- “Democrats put bipartisan immigration reform proposals on the table and then Donald Trump says vote against them, we don’t want to fix the problem we want to complain about the problem. America needs people who will fix the problem. Democrats deliver.”
- “So I’m going to just conclude with a couple more things. It is Labor Day. We are celebrating hardworking people. Andwhat I would like to ask of my opponent were he here – he came out against the infrastructure bill that is leading us to build roads, bridges, broadband, ports, airports, rail all across the Commonwealth. What was his reason? He said he was against the infrastructure bill because it helped labor. Wow, happy Labor Day! Something that helps working people, that employs good Virginians in high-paying, high-benefit and yes often union jobs? That’s bad? No it’s good; it’s good for the Commonwealth, it’s good for the economy, it’s good for the country, it’s leading us to have the strongest economy on the planet Earth. There’s more work to do. Elect more Democrats and we’ll get more done. It’s great to be with you here in Buena Vista. Thanks and have a great Labor Day!”
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