Gary Crusader staff report
On April 26, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton visited parts of Lake County connecting to Indiana voters with promises to support jobs and a steel industry that has eroded with changing times and competition.
Clinton’s message aimed to convince voters that she is the best candidate to represent a disenfranchised electorate whose income has dwindled over the years as companies moved operations out of the state to countries abroad.
The visit was one of several campaign stops Clinton plans to make as part of a last minute push for support before voters head to the polls for the Indiana primary on Tuesday, May 3.
Coming off a big win in the New York primary, Clinton returned to the campaign trail after soundly beating opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders in his hometown state of Vermont. By winning New York, Clinton deflated Sanders’ renewed momentum that came as he swept several states in an effort to keep his presidential hopes alive.
Though analysts predict Clinton will win the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has defied calls to drop out of the race. On April 26, he won the primaries in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Still, Sanders trails behind Clinton and his chances of catching up with the former Secretary of State were sealed after he lost in New York.
With Clinton’s momentum and growing amount of super delegates, political analysts say it’s impossible for Sanders to take the lead in the Democratic presidential race.
In Tuesday’s primary, Clinton won Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. Clinton’s delegate total is 2,141. She is now less than 250 delegates away from clinching the Democratic nomination for president. Some 83 delegates are up for grabs in Indiana—the only state that will hold a primary on May 3.
Clinton has benefitted largely from Black voters, who have traditionally supported her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Although the Clintons have not been in the White House in 15 years, Black support for Hillary has remained strong throughout this election season.
She captured the majority of Black votes in the Illinois primary on March 15, and she is expected to do the same with Gary’s high number of Black voters; the majority of who are Democrat.
During her visit to Indiana on Tuesday, Clinton toured the two-year old headquarters of the Munster Steel Company in Hammond. The company moved from the Munster town after it broke ground on the $8 million facility in 2013.
With nearly one out of five jobs in the manufacturing industry, Clinton brought her message, “Make It in America.” She voiced her support of Indiana’s manufacturers and said as president, she would prevent foreign countries, like China, from abusing global trade rules.
Clinton said she believes the most important issue in this election is bringing back middle-class jobs and wages to America.
She then headed to the AM General Plant in Mishawaka, where she gave a speech congratulating the plant’s efforts in manufacturing and saying she wanted to take what they do to a national level.
“We must support organized labor and unions…an organized workforce and a plant like this is an asset,” she said.
Clinton said roughly 100,000 people in Indiana are supported by the auto industry. “Over the last seven years, automakers have come back,” she said.
