The 2016 presidential election has been one to remember and according to some – one to forget.
But with the presidential debates now out of the way for Democratic and Republican nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the focus locally is turned to what’s ahead for the Nov. 8 general election.
“We just finished up the three debates and from watching, in my opinion of course, I thought Donald won the last two and had a good showing in the first one,” Carter County Republican Party Chair Judy Reed told the Elizabethton Star. “I think he came across as a great leader and his policies mostly fall in line with what Carter County believes. I thought he did very well.”
Local democrats also felt their candidate provided a solid showing in each of the debates.
“I thought all of the debates went very well,” Carter County Democratic Party Chair Ramon Sanchez-Vinas said Friday. “I thought it was a great time to show the party’s values and to show the difference between us and the other parties. I’m particularly happy Mr. Trump stayed in the race. The american people have a moment to choose one way or another. We’re ready to see a balance of power with our local Republican legislators and we feel like a win in November can be a big step moving forward to unite the party and unite the country.”
The focus moves to the upcoming weeks as local supporters put in their last bit of effort to help support their respective candidate.
“During this election, this has been the most people we’ve seen show up at our headquarters in Elizabethton,” Sanchez-Vinas said. “We’re seeing a lot of people come out, talk with us, man the headquarters and spend time helping us cover the area.”
The same can be said about the local Republicans, Reed added.
“This has been one of our most successful years at the headquarters,” she said. “Everyone has just been so enthusiastic about this year’s election and been so supportive of Donald Trump. It’s just not been from Carter County, either. We’ve had several people stop by from adjoining counties asking about signs, stickers and how they can get involved to support Trump. It’s been so exciting to see how supportive people have been.”
Sanchez-Vinas added the support has been seen by his party’s side of the spectrum too.
“We know that Tennessee will most likely go to Trump and the county will have the majority favor going to the Republican Party,” Sanchez-Vinas said. “But we’re going to continue building our local base and continue to grow the party here in Carter County. We’ve had people come in, who normally wouldn’t have nice things to say, and are willing to talk and listen to what our party has to offer.”
But while the chairs may have disagreeing ideas on different policies, they both agreed that this year’s election has been one of the worst. Following each debate, various issues have headlined main national media outlets including Trumps comments voting fraud and derogatory comments while Clinton has been on the receiving end of leaked emails garnered by WikiLeaks.
“We have never seen an election like this where the issues have went off to the side,” Reed said. “You look at Donald Trump where recent women have came forward to speak out against him and they’ve been proven to be false or not have any substantial evidence. Then you look at Hillary and everything against her has been shown to be true.
“With Trump, you can tell he hasn’t learned the appropriate way to address the issues,” she continued. “But when you clean it up, he’s almost hitting on the all the points we feel to be important in this country. There’s a side of him that we just don’t even get a chance to see. Take Ben Carson, who is an incredible and highly respected man that is campaigning for Trump and calls him his dearest friend.”
Sanchez-Vinas added the rhetoric has caused the current uphill battle and political divisiveness across the country.
“This has been one of the worst of the elections I’ve ever been part of,” he said. “With all the nastiness and divisiveness. Although when you look at it from a higher elevation, it’s pretty clear to see to see both sides and their policies.”
According to RealClearPolitics.com – a website that comprises each of the preliminary presidentials polls taken prior to November – currently has Clinton ahead of Trump 48.5 to 42.2. With a handful of polls from nationally polling firms, Clinton has a 6.3 spread over the Republican Party’s nominee.
But with the popularity polls and early voting taking the main stage for the time being, both chairs said they’re looking forward to having viewing parties at the respectively headquarters.
Both headquarters are located in downtown Elizabethton.