NORTHAMPTON — About 75 pro-Hillary Clinton dignitaries and volunteers gathered at JFK Middle School on Thursday to rally for the home stretch of the election season.
Canvassing in New Hampshire, the nearest battleground state, was front and center during the evening’s proceedings.
Speakers urged listeners not to get too comfortable in the Northampton-area bubble, a liberal enclave in a reliably blue state.
“The clock is ticking,” said former mayor Clare Higgins, the night’s master of ceremonies. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Campaign staffers joked that the divvying up of campaign resources makes clear where the priorities are.
“If you’re asking me for yard signs, go steal them from New Hampshire,” said Nick Black, Hillary for America’s Massachusetts state director. “Because I don’t have any.”
Area politicians including Congressman James McGovern of Worcester, Reps. Ellen Story of Amherst, John Scibak of South Hadley and Peter Kocot of Northampton, as well as Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan urged those in the room to forgo other weekend plans in the coming months and instead knock on the doors of their northern neighbors. Campaign staffers saw about 55 people sign up to volunteer between now and the Nov. 8 election.
One message was clear throughout the evening: It’s more important now than ever.
McGovern said he has disagreed with Republican candidates before, but he has never before feared for Western civilization in the way he does now.
“We need to win by a landslide,” he said, in order to send a message that campaigns should not be run like Donald Trump’s. “I’m passionate about this race and I know you are, too.”
And McGovern praised the Bernie Sanders supporters in the room.
“Because of you we have the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Story spoke of a recent meeting with international college students, recounting how they were hesitant to speak with her as they feared her politics were like Trump’s.
“When you think of what the rest of the world must think of us,” she said of Trump’s ascent. “That was just an interesting perspective to have, seeing it in their eyes.”
As Story walked away from the podium, she called on the crowd to help turn Trump to “dust.”
In order to do that, said Kocot, “we’ve got to work hard.”
“There can’t be any question on Election Day.”
Trump, referred to as “he who must not be named,” was a target for the Democrats.
“We need to send this person back,” Scibak said. “Let him go anywhere else but 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Ellie Wolfe, a 15-year-old campaigner featured in a Gazette story earlier this summer, was a crowd favorite.
“I refuse to let a bigoted old man make decisions about my reproductive health,” Wolfe said. “I’m with (Clinton) because I know that she’s with me.”
Higgins, like many others in the room, was clearly moved by Wolfe’s charisma.
“Elections are about the future,” Higgins said, pointing to Wolfe.
Sullivan spent his time speaking to the importance of canvassing, of being “the face of democracy and decency.” He asked the audience to think of someone in their lives who is important to them.
“If you can’t think of anyone, I want you to think of Ellie Wolfe,” he said. “I want you to vote for the future. We have 68 days to get it done.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.