On Wednesday Oct. 30, Governor and vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz flew into Asheville to host a rally at the Orange Peel in downtown.
“He talked about how resilient we are as a community, and I hope they bring that same resilience and tenacity when they’re our next administration in the white house,” said Preston Blakely, 30-year-old Mayor of Fletcher.
Walz’ plane touched down at the Asheville Regional airport around 6PM where Blakely and other elected officials of Western North Carolina greeted him.
“It was a surreal moment, this is somebody who has the opportunity and I hope will be the next vice president of the United States,” Blakely said.
Blakely said the first thing Walz said when he greeted him, and the other elected officials was how to get Western North Carolina back on its feet in the wake of the storm.
“That’s something I appreciate; he said if he gets elected it will be one of the administration’s priorities to get us back. I appreciate his willingness to spearhead that effort for the federal government to get us back to where we need to be,” Blakely said.
Blakely said Walz’ determination to help WNC recover after the storm meant the world to him, and the areas affected by the storm need all the help from the federal government as they can get.
“Just here in Fletcher, people lost their homes, people are building back from nothing all over the place. The storm exposed how interconnected we are as a region and it’s going to take a significant amount of time and resources, so we absolutely need a federal government that’s going to prioritize this,” Blakely said.
Walz rallied in Asheville on Sept. 18, nearly ten days before Helene hit North Carolina. Upon returning to Asheville on Oct. 30, he called Asheville a treasure and called for Americans to visit Asheville and support businesses affected by Helene.
“He seemed like a ‘salt of the earth’ guy, he speaks plainly and talks about real issues. The way he dissected JD Vance and his interests really stuck with me,” said Cedric Smith, 68-year-old resident of Hendersonville who attended the rally at the Orange Peel.
In his speech Walz pledged that he and Kamala Harris would not rest until the Asheville community gets proper support.
“It attests to his integrity as an individual, He has a connection with regular folk and he’s aware of people when they’re hurting. He knows when they need encouragement from positive leadership, that’s what impressed me,” Smith said.
Danny McClinton, owner of Salvage Station, the riverside music venue which suffered massive damage from Helene, opened for Walz at the orange peel and set the tone of the evening.
“Hello Asheville, hello survivors, hello to a community who has pulled together and figured out how to live without power, drinkable water and the schools being closed for a month,” McClinton said.
Blakely said he appreciated Walz’ focus on combating climate change because he believes it will prevent future tragedies like Helene from occurring on the same scale.
“He’s got the same charisma, same energy, the same empathy and he still delivered the same message of wanting to be proactive about the climate, hurricanes like that aren’t supposed to happen here,” Blakely said.
Blakely said it meant a lot to him that Walz said he wanted people to visit Asheville and put their money into the small businesses in the area to help rebuild and regrow.
“He told people to visit Asheville and support us here, he said the federal government is going to do something. I think it’s important that he told people to buy a plane ticket, we’re a community that’s based on tourism, so if folks aren’t here spending their money and supporting our businesses that’s going to hurt us,” Blakely said.
According to Smith the rally was well attended, but he was disappointed there weren’t a lot of Black people like himself in attendance.
“I was surprised by the absence of people who looked like me. Sometimes people I talk to think the democratic party takes them for granted. I talked to one young man at the barbershop the other day who was in support of Trump. He wasn’t fond of Harris because she was a prosecutor, and he had been incarcerated before. I’m amazed by that.
Though he said the rally went well, Smith said he hopes the energy and momentum carries through to the election on Tuesday.
“This is going to be a turning point in United States history and if you’ve never voted you need to get out and vote this time. We didn’t have the right to vote in 1964, so we need to get out and do it now,” Smith said.
