“Jeanne Shaheen is New Hampshire!” Senator Molly Kelly (D-N.H.) shouted to a crowd of roughly 100 people gathered in the Alumni Recital Hall at the Redfern Arts Center Saturday afternoon.
While the majority in attendance were Shaheen supporters, many individuals were also excited to hear Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speak, given her reputation as a progressive policy maker and her populistic ideals. Shaheen and Warren used populism to take jab after jab at Scott Brown’s political career and agenda, ranging from his voting record to his close relationship with the Koch brothers and other wealthy investors in the U.S.
“We don’t need to import a senator who’s going to export our jobs,” Shaheen said. She also condemned Brown for using fear mongering to gain votes and said New Hampshire needs politicians who will work towards real solutions for issues like ISIS and Ebola.
Associated Press Photo
Warren also presented a cornucopia of condemning facts about Scott Brown, who she defeated in the 2012 elections for the Senate in Massachusetts. Warren explained that she felt bad she had beaten Brown and caused him to pack up his “pick-up truck” and move to New Hampshire to run for Senate.
“I don’t care how fast he drives that truck, he cannot outrun his voting record,” Warren said.
She continued, “That’s what it is all about — you can get out there and talk, throw a little pixie dust, spend a lot of money from the Koch brothers, but at the end of the day both of your Senator candidates are on the record for how they vote.”
Warren told the audience of Brown’s decisions to vote to give big oil companies millions of dollars in subsidies, to increase interest on student loans and of his voting against equal pay for women.
Warren also said that Brown co-sponsored a bill that would allow employers to determine the access a woman would have to birth control under her employer’s health coverage.
However, in a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Brown said he co-sponsored the bill because he believes employers shouldn’t have to pay for their employees’ birth control, not because he is against contraception.
Shaheen and Warren didn’t only point out the negative aspects of Brown’s race. They also discussed some of Shaheen’s plans for New Hampshire if re-elected.
“Income inequality is the biggest threat to our economic future; you know it, I know it, Elizabeth knows it, and we need to elect people who are going to work to close that gap,” Shaheen said before discussing her stances and possible solutions to major issues. Shaheen stressed the need for college loan reform and offered her first step towards alleviating some of that debt.
“Elizabeth and I have a bill that would allow students to refinance their college loans,” she said.
“You can refinance your car, you can refinance your mortgage, you could even refinance your yacht if you had one, but you can’t refinance your student loans. We need to change that; the government should not be making money off the backs of our students.”
According to POLITICO.com, the bill Warren spoke of failed to move past the Senate in June of 2014, but she vowed to continue to fight for student loan reform.
She also told the crowd that we need to support small businesses, citing that two-thirds of New Hampshire’s jobs come from small businesses.
Shaheen also said getting women equal pay for equal work is at the top of the list of needed economic reform.
According to Shaheen, Scott Brown had a few opportunities to vote for equal pay for equal work, but he did not. Shaheen also stated that no matter how many negative political ads are ran about her, she will still support universal healthcare in the U.S.
Julie McClain, the communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said, “There’s a really clear choice in this election between Scott Brown and Jeanne Shaheen, and Jeanne Shaheen is fighting for a brighter future for all people — not just some of them.”
McClain also said she was pleased with the turnout for the event and really liked the energy of the rally.
KSC Senior Courtney Perron said she supports Shaheen because of her push to reform student loans and her strong stance on women’s rights.
“I believe in a woman’s rights to do what they please with their own body, especially because the world is overpopulated anyways,” Perron said.
Everyone in attendance was given a campaign sign and urged by Warren and Shaheen to make phone calls, knock on doors and tell everybody they know to vote.
Jesse Reynolds can be contacted at jreynolds@keene-equinox.com
