Kick-Off in Roanoke
Around 250 people turned out early this morning for our Roanoke kick-off event, where Governor Warner stressed his commitment to a bipartisan approach to fixing our nation’s problems.
Sheriff Gerrold Holt set the tone and welcomed the crowd to the New Fire Station #1 in Roanoke, along with Mayor Nelson Harris and David Carson, the chair of the school board.
Heywood Fralin, introduced the governor. Fralin is a Roanoke Valley business and community leader and has been a long-time supporter of Republican candidates and committees.
The Roanoke Times filed on their website:
Mark Warner, who forged working coalitions with Republican legislators during his gubernatorial term, acknowledged voter disdain for the entrenched partisanship in Washington and vowed to seek bipartisan alliances in the Senate.“I don’t think the American people trust either party enough to give them a blank check,” Warner said.
To showcase Warner’s bipartisan appeal, the campaign had Roanoke businessman Heywood Fralin, a longtime supporter of Republican candidates, introduce the candidate at his firehouse rally.
“My guess is that everyone here pretty much has the same priorities,” Fralin said in his introduction of Warner.
They also have some great video from the rally:
UPDATE: The Star City Harbinger blog has a great report with great pictures (including the one above) from this morning’s event.
In his introduction of Mr. Warner, Heywood Fralin boldly declared that “the [Commonwealth] is in good shape because of the Warner Administration. Unfortunately, the Nation is not in as good shape.”
The elder Fralin went on to tout the accomplishments of Mr. Warner, a centrist Democrat, who transcends “partisan politics” and offers “real solutions to real problems.”
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Earlier in his speech at Roanoke’s Downtown Fire Station, Warner reminded the crowd why he was here in the Star City: “What I love about this country is that everyone gets a fair shot . . . Why am I here? Why did I start here 7 years ago? Because Southwest Virginia hasn’t always gotten a fair shot from Richmond. I will work so everyone gets their fair shot.”