Under blue skies along the Mississippi River, Hampton, Illinois’s Illiniwek Park held its 49th annual Salute to Labor Day Picnic. As local Illinois and Iowa Democratic politicians took the stage to pay tribute to the working class of the Quad Cities, the crowd watched the background as five or six black SUVs drove along the back of the park behind the stage. After an hour of updates on her approach, 2016 Democratic Presidential Nominee, Hillary Clinton, had finally arrived.
Clinton had attended the same picnic a year previously and had promised Quad Cities Democratic Party Chairman, Doug House, a return visit. The picnic, annually put on by the local Democratic Party, is meant to celebrate the hard-working American middle class and union workers on Labor Day.
Clinton’s much-anticipated speech was to be the last of the day, the focal point following many Democratic speakers supporting the work of Labor Unions. Clinton regarded her audience of union workers saying, “I am going to say ‘no’ to a tax on unions.”
Clinton’s campaign relies on the middle-class workers who came to the picnic that day to celebrate Labor Day. She assured them that her presidency will prioritize the working class. “I will do everything I can to get more jobs and save more jobs,” Clinton said. The picnic was very focused on jobs and working American people. House had even spent time prior to Clinton’s arrival recognizing various working roles including veterans and firefighters.
The goal of Clinton’s speech was to bring a divided Democratic party closer. As her campaign slogan, “Better Together,” suggests, Clinton believes the Democratic party cannot remain undecided on a single candidate.
Many Democratic voters still hold out hope for former candidate Bernie Sanders and plan to write in his name.
“I am going to continue to emphasize that we need to be uniters in this campaign.” Clinton said.
Clinton discussed young voters standing together with elderly voters and Democratic voters fighting for her presidency together.
Clinton chose to dedicate a large portion of her speech towards debunking Republican Nominee, Donald Trump’s campaign. She mentioned the recent interaction between Trump and the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto.
Clinton said throughout her speech that a man who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear missiles, calling Trump totally unfit to be president.
After officially accepting the Democratic nomination, Clinton’s only job before the general election on Nov. 8 is to recruit more and more voters. This speech was no exception to that job. Clinton rallied her supporters in Hampton this last Labor Day, saying, “I believe we can compete with anybody if we put our minds to it.”