This morning on Main Street in Appomattox, the Appomattox Democratic Committee Headquarters christened its opening when Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and Virginia 5th Congressional District candidate Leslie Cockburn spoke to a crowd of supporters that packed the office on a sweltering day.
Cockburn, who is running against Republican candidate Denver Riggleman in the Nov. 6 election, claimed that the race has been tightening and that, according to polling source FiveThirtyEight, the race is currently a toss-up. She encouraged supporters to “flip the vote” in favor of the Democratic candidate.
Coming from a rural community in Rappahannock County, Cockburn said that she is familiar with the concerns of a small community and pointed out that the recent implementation on tariffs by President Donald Trump and his administration is a burden on local farmers.
“I was just at a dairy farm in Campbell County the other day - big dairy farm, 400 cows being milked every day. Because Mexico no longer wants to buy American cheese, therefore the milk pot in the United States is bigger, and the price is going down. So, they’re feeling the effects of the tariffs,” she said.
Cockburn also expressed concern for the tariffs on aluminum, which could harm breweries and tariffs on timber, which is a major natural resource in the 5th District.
“Some of that timber is sold to China. If the Chinese decide to put tariffs on timber, again, the 5th District of Virginia suffers,” she said.
Acknowledging that political parties often go through changes for better or worse through the years, Kaine - who is running for reelection in the U.S. Senate - emphasized that the Democrat party of 2018 is the party “for all” the people (in reference to the last two words of the nation’s Pledge of Allegiance) while charging that President Trump has acted as a divider.
“He’s been a name caller, picking a fight with somebody every day,” Kaine said. “It’s always going to be picking a fight with somebody - not bringing people together, not unifying. I mean, Appomattox stands for unification.”
Kaine believes that even if both parties disagree on fundamental issues, they should strive to find common ground whenever possible and said that he has good relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle.
“You can disagree without hating someone,” he said.
Kaine also expressed strong opposition to the GOP tax cut plan that was recently passed by the U.S. Senate, saying that it heavily favors corporate entities over the working class.
“[They are] deep, permanent tax cuts for corporations, and temporary, expiring tax cuts for people,” Kaine said. “We need tax reform. We haven’t done it since 1986, but I don’t think you should ask working people to pay a higher tax rate than corporations. I don’t think you should ask people to pay a higher tax on wages and salaries than on interests, dividends, capital gains and carried interest. You’ve got to have a fair tax code that honors work, that honors working people.”
Both Democratic candidates share deep concern over the opioid addiction crises and applauded the Virginian General Assembly’s recent vote to approve medicaid expansion for approximately 400,000 people. Kaine referred to the Democratic achievement as a landmark vote in the history of the state.
“In the 399-year history of the general assembly, that vote in May to expand medicaid was the single vote that helped the most people,” he said.
Referring to opioid deaths, Kaine stated that more Americans died of opioid overdose in 2017 than in the entire Vietnam War.
Cockburn cautioned that medicaid, healthcare and social security are all under threat and that her party will work to secure those protections for the people of Virginia.
“The Trump administration wants to say it’s unconstitutional to offer healthcare to anyone who has a pre-existing condition,” Cockburn said. “If you want change or if you don’t want this administration to take these things away from you, you’ve got to vote Democrat.”
Immigration policies being enforced by the Trump administration, according to Kaine, are hurting businesses such as the dairy industry, because those policies are making it more difficult for legal temporary workers to obtain visas. Kaine cited the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which allows for half-a-million workers from countries that have experienced national disasters to find work in the United States. Kaine said that he heard from one of his colleagues in the Senate that President Trump is looking into putting a halt to TPS.
Ora McCoy, former postmaster in Appomattox, is the current Vice-Chairman of the Appomattox Democratic Committee. Chairman Ken Swanson was unable to attend the event due to job responsibilities.
According to McCoy, the committee set up headquarters in a different location in Appomattox in 2008 and 2012, and said having the office, which officially opened earlier this week, is beneficial to secure an even playing field in the upcoming elections.
“It highlights that we do have some Democrats in Appomattox, so we want them to have a place to come to get signs or whatever so they can support our Democratic candidates,” she said.
Appomattox resident Sarah Meissner attended the gathering because she is concerned that human rights in America are at risk and opposes the divisive rhetoric she has seen in the nation.
“The support for [a candidate] who is for all [the people] is really important,” she said. “We need to be more visible. It’s important that we have two parties and to be more civil, and people need to realize that we can be, and do this for the whole nation, not just for a party.”
Meissner continued, “Over 300 newspapers put out editorials nationwide proclaiming that we do have freedom of the press, and whether you disagree or agree with it, we still have that freedom. I think a lot of those freedoms are being jeopardized.”
As Democratic Party supporters gathered indoors at headquarters, a small group of people assembled across the street to stage a peaceful demonstration by displaying signs in support of Virginia U.S. Senate Republican candidate Corey Stewart and 5th District Republican candidate Denver Riggleman.
Karen Angulo, President of Lynchburg Tea Party and member of the Appomattox County Republican Committee, was not quite as optimistic about the message of the Democrat candidates on topics ranging from the economy to tariffs to the lack of civility in the current political climate.
Angulo believes that Democrat economic policies have not been fruitful to the Appomattox area, as seen by the empty store fronts and the 2011 closing of the Thomasville Furniture factory.
“The Democrat policies for the economy are the reason that Appomattox has been devastated,” Angulo said. “Trump is starting to make the corrections that are needed for our economy to boom. With the tax cuts, people are seeing it in their pocketbook and businesses are starting to repatriate money back. Hopefully more of that will come to Appomattox so we can get more jobs here locally.”
Angulo challenged the notion that tax cuts hurt the working class, referring to the Democratic candidates as “big spenders” and recalling a quote by Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who once said “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
“When did you ever get a job from a poor person? Businesses make money,” Angulo continued. “That’s what they’re in business to make; and they create jobs, and every job creates seven more jobs because you support the community.”
Angulo favors Riggleman in the 5th District race, in part, because she believes he is more genuine in his concern for the local economy.
“Denver Riggleman is a businessman. He just toured Appomattox last week talking to businesses. Tim Kaine is coming just to talk to the Democrats. [I] don’t think he’s going to visit any businesses,” she said.
In regard to lack of civility, Angulo points to the Democratic Party tactics to impeach President Trump and show favoritism to illegal immigrants over American citizens as being uncivil.
“The only collusion that happened is with the Democrats trying to prevent an election and unseat a sitting president, and they use all the resources at their disposal, including in the federal government, to do that,” Angulo said. “The Democrats use the divide and conquer tactics of Saul Alinsky to divide by race, by gender, by economic status, by you name it, to divide so that they can take power.”
Responding to the tariff issue, Angulo acknowledges it as a hardship on farmers, but that the economy will be better in the long-term with a “level playing field” despite the outcry from international corporations.
“We’ve been taken advantage of for so long. “There will be short-term pain, but once our industries and once our farmers get back, then a lot of that short-term pain will disappear. We need jobs here. We need the economy to boom. The people who scream the loudest are the multi-country businesses who don’t want to see this because they’ve moved overseas to take advantage of cheap labor.”
Appomattox resident Clinton Newman, who believes that the state and federal government waste too much of the citizens’ tax dollars on pork-barrel spending, showed up to the event to listen to Kaine’s speech.
“I just wanted to hear what he had to say,” Newman said. “I was kind of upset. I’ve seen his commercial on TV talking about how he went to Honduras to teach them welding, and a third of Virginian children are going to bed hungry every night. Why not teach it here? Charity starts at home. Spending, spending, spending and we’re in debt 17 trillion dollars and going up every day. I mean, what am I going to do? My kids have to inherit this debt.”
Appomattox area residents on both sides of the political spectrum showed up on both sides of the street to support their candidates. However, both agree that civil discourse is good for the voting process and is an important part of the American heritage.
The Appomattox Democratic Committee Headquarters is located at 174 Main Street across from Granny Bee’s restaurant. According to McCoy, they will remain open until the conclusion of the November elections.
The building space was donated by property owner Debbie Gilliam, who along with her father, were both Chairmen of the Appomattox Democratic Committee in the past.
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