Clinton to visit; Tressel, Meyer back Kasich

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Hillary Clinton, Democratic frontrunner for president, is returning Saturday to the Mahoning Valley, her first visit since October 2008.

The former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York will be the first major presidential candidate this year to have a public event in Youngstown. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday – three days before the primary – at M7 Technologies, 1019 Ohio Works Drive.

Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich got a boost for his presidential bid with Jim Tressel, Youngstown State University president, throwing in his support.

“I’ve already cast my vote for him,” Tressel said. “I voted absentee.”

Tressel will attend the events in the Mahoning Valley where Kasich will appear Sunday and Monday.

According to her campaign, Clinton will continue to lay out her vision, which includes “strengthening manufacturing and confronting abusive trade practices by foreign countries, including China.”

Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. For tickets, sign up at www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/2147780/.

“I’m elated, so happy that Hillary Clinton is coming to the Mahoning Valley,” said David Betras, the Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman and a Clinton delegate. “She recognizes the voters here are important to her winning in Ohio.”

Clinton visited the Valley three times in the weeks before the March 4, 2008, primary in Ohio – Feb. 14 at the Lordstown General Motors complex, Feb. 21 at Chaney High School in Youngstown, and March 2 at Austintown Fitch High School.

Clinton won the Democratic primary in Ohio that year beating Barack Obama with strong victories in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

She lost the party’s nomination to Obama, and campaigned for him at Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center on Oct. 17, 2008. It was her last visit to the Valley.

Tressel said he’s backing Kasich because “he truly cares about everybody.”

“When we first came here, every time I talked to him, he’d say, ‘We’ve got to help the children in Youngstown, to move them forward.’”

Kasich is making two campaign stops in the Valley – at the Spread Eagle Tavern and Inn in Hanoverton at 6 p.m. Sunday and Brilex Industries Inc. in Youngstown at 10 a.m. Monday with doors opening at 9:30 a.m.

Polls show a close race in Tuesday’s Republican primary in Ohio between Kasich and GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

Kasich was one of the first people who called the YSU president as Tressel transitioned from football after resigning as the head coach of the Ohio State University Buckeyes football team. The resignation followed a players’ tattoo scandal.

“He said, ‘Your greatest days are ahead of you,’” Tressel said.

He believes Kasich has done a great job in Ohio.

“If you ask I think he’s a great guy – absolutely,” Tressel said. “If you ask me if he’s my favorite – absolutely. He’s just a quality person. If you want to call that an endorsement, I guess that’s what it is.”

Kasich also picked up an endorsement Thursday from Urban Meyer, a little more than a week after Trump told a Columbus crowd that the head football coach said “awfully nice things” about him.

Kasich’s campaign announced the endorsement with a short video clip featuring Kasich and Meyer talking about the latter’s decision to head the Buckeyes and the governor’s accomplishments since taking office.

On Thursday, Clinton surrogate Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, spoke to about 20 women at the Sunrise Inn in Warren about why it’s important for Trumbull County women to help elect Hillary Clinton president.

Hogue said the organization supports Clinton because she understands “when you put women and families at the center, not only do women do better, but our entire country benefits.”

NARAL stands for National Abortion Rights Action League, but Hogue likes to focus on the broader implications of reproductive rights, like “self-determination to decide when you want to expand your family.”

She says the issue is about control – with her organization pushing for women to have it so they don’t have to “stay in relationships for security, not for love.”

She says Clinton has been a progressive for decades, setting up rape-crisis hotlines in the South in the 1970s.

“One of the reasons we love Hillary is she won’t be bullied,” Hogue said.

Also Thursday, National Nurses United, a group of registered nurses backing U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, visited the candidate’s Niles headquarters and the Museum of Labor and Industry in Youngstown. They’re traveling in a “Bernie Bus.”

“RNs have talked to voters and been reminded of the huge gaps in access to health care and education, concerns about retirement security, the jobs lost due to unfair trade deals, widespread inequality, and the escalating climate crisis,” said RoseAnn DeMoro, NNU executive director. “Bernie Sanders and the legions of grass-roots activists around the U.S. who have joined him will not stop. The political revolution is just beginning.”