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First Lady Stops in Fayetteville for Harris-Walz Campaign
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First Lady Stops in Fayetteville for Harris-Walz Campaign

First Lady Jill Biden visited the Cumberland County Democratic Party headquarters in Fayetteville Friday afternoon to attend the launch of a survey of veterans and military families for the Harris-Walz campaign.

During the first few minutes of the first lady’s eight-minute remarks, she told the crowd of more than 125 people that her father was a World War II Navy veteran and that she and the President’s son Joe Biden, Beau, had served in the Army National Guard. and deployed to Iraq in 2003.

The first lady said this election was “a choice between someone who respects the military with the temperament to be commander in chief and someone who denigrates military service at every turn.”

Burners and Veterans

“As military families, you understand that this choice is crucial, and we need your votes in this final stretch to make sure we elect Kamala Harris,” Biden said. “With Joe, Kamala worked to pass the PACT Act and expand access to maternity care for women veterans. Kamala understands the challenges military families face.

THE Honoring our promise to respond to the Comprehensive Toxic Substances Act, known as the PACT Actwas passed in 2022 to expand benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances.

Harnett County resident Jason Cain is one of the veterans who was exposed to burns during his military service.

Cain served 10 years in the Army at what is now known as Fort Liberty, spending four years in the 82nd Airborne Division and six years in special operations.

“I deployed five times and we were always right next to a burn pit,” Cain said. “When I was with the 82nd, it was in the middle of our camp. We breathed in everything we threw away every day.

Cain said he was glad the Biden-Harris administration supported increasing benefits for veterans whose injuries, like exposure to burns, might occur later in life.

More: PHOTOS: Former President Bill Clinton Opposes Kamala Harris in Fayetteville

Understanding Veterans and Military Families

He said he believed Harris would maintain the Bidens’ support for military families.

“She chose Tim Walz as vice president, who is a career military man,” Cain said. “I was also an enlisted soldier, and to see a high-ranking soldier run for vice president, I think that’s a testament. As California’s attorney general, Harris fought against pharmaceutical companies that were harming people, including military families.

The first lady told Friday’s crowd that she also thought Harris understood the sacrifices military families make, including spouses who have to find new jobs and children who have to start new schools.

“That’s why she and Joe made it easier for military spouses to get and keep federal jobs,” Biden said. “As president, Kamala will make life a little easier for working families. It will expand the child tax credit and provide tax relief for the first year of a child’s life.

Other points

Biden said Harris’ opponent, former President Donald Trump, would keep food prices high by giving tax breaks to companies that profited from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Kamala is going to lower prices,” Biden said.

She explained how Harris was raised by a middle-class working mother and said Harris fought to give first-time home buyers a $25,000 down payment.

Speaking about women’s rights, Biden said she was devastated when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

“The government shouldn’t tell women what to do,” Biden said.

She said Trump’s abortion bans took away women’s ability to make their own health care decisions, but Harris would sign a national law to restore reproductive freedoms, which she said are important for women. military families.

“You shouldn’t have to worry that the care you need will be prohibited at your next duty station,” Biden said.

More: Voter’s Guide: Here’s every race listed on Cumberland County voters’ ballots in the 2024 election

Concerns about another Trump presidency

Biden concluded his speech by reminding the crowd that early voting in North Carolina ends on November 2 and asked who remembered the 2016 election, when Democrats were sure to win.

“Remember that feeling: thinking that if only we had made a few more calls, if only we had knocked on more doors? » Biden asked. “We can’t let this happen again.”

Cain, the veteran who attended Friday’s events, said he was concerned about what retired Gen. John Kelly said about Trump.

Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, said he thought Trump was a fascist.

“When he says, “I will use the army to go after (the Democrats), he talks about me,” Cain said. “I see this as a direct threat to me, with people working very hard to make sure he doesn’t become president again. I don’t like threats and I don’t think the military likes to be used as a political pawn like he did.”

Other speakers

Before Biden’s remarks, Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin said he was excited to welcome the first lady to Fayetteville.

“The road to the White House is going to be here through Fayetteville, North Carolina and North Carolina, and we’re going to bring this home to the vice president, soon to be president, Kamala Harris,” Colvin said.

Colvin thanked Harris for working with President Joe Biden, after people died, businesses closed and some people were forced out of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Biden-Harris team has shown that they put people first,” Colvin said.

State Sen. Val Applewhite, an Air Force veteran, welcomed Biden to Applewhite’s home in Fayetteville four years ago, when Biden campaigned here for her husband.

“She heard us and advocated for us,” Applewhite said. “She founded a White House initiative to support military families.”

Applewhite said Harris and Walz share the same values.

“(They) know we have a sacred obligation to care for service members, veterans and their families,” Applewhite said.

Editor Rachael Riley can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3528.