Chelsea Clinton Campaigns for her Mother at the Covelli Centre

By Sam Phillips

Hillary Clinton supporters look on as her daughter Chelsea and Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field campaign for her in the Covelli Centre’s Youngstown State University Community Room (Gabby Fellows / The Jambar)Phillips

Chelsea Clinton and Sally Field both said this year’s presidential election is the most important of their lifetime.

“Everything I care about most is at risk,” Clinton said. “I feel that way in part because I’m now a parent.”

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, addressed a crowd that gathered in the Youngstown State University Community Room at the Covelli Centre on Saturday. She spent about an hour speaking about her mother’s stances on several issues.

Before Chelsea Clinton spoke, Sally Field, an academy-award winning actress, talked about why she supports Hillary Clinton. She said the nominee is “a brilliant, experienced stateswoman who is the most qualified presidential candidate of all time.”

Voting for Hillary Clinton is supporting progressive values, like affordable healthcare and fair wages for women and disabled workers, Field said. She urged the crowd of about 150 people to get involved in the campaign.

“It’s strength and support that Hillary Clinton needs right now,” she said. “You are the heart of America, please know what’s at stake in this election.”

Chelsea Clinton began her speech by talking about her mother’s experiencing advocating for human rights and protecting family values. She said one of Hillary Clinton’s proposals is providing three months of paid family leave, not just for women who give birth, but also for same-sex couples who adopt or foster a child.

“Although often it’s women who are caregivers, men need to be part of this as well,” she said.

Next, Chelsea Clinton discussed minimum wage. She said Hillary Clinton is in favor of raising the minimum wage, guaranteeing equal pay for equal work for women and providing fair wages for disabled workers. She said her mother sees economic, family, and women’s issues as “intimately connected.”

Touching on an issue that touches the Mahoning Valley, she said Hillary Clinton would tackle the heroin epidemic by increasing prevention and treatment programs. As of this year, more people die from heroin and opioid overdoses than car crashes.

Chelsea Clinton concluded her speech by saying her mother has long stood her ground against bullies, and made a remark about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“I never thought in my lifetime I would ever see the normalization of hate speech that we see from Mr. Trump and his campaign,” she said. “The regular painful racism, sexism and islamophobia and the mocking of Americans with disabilities and mocking of veterans and the mocking of a Gold Star family.”

A question and answer session followed Chelsea’s speech. She talked about her mother’s support for universal background checks and reducing the cost of medications.

“We have to protect the Affordable Care Act, but finish the part of ‘affordable,’” she said.

She closed by urging everyone to register to vote and to support her mother this November.