Tim Walz, Bill Clinton Stop in Durham on First Day of Early Voting

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Early voting is underway, and you can find all of the INDY’s election coverage here. Our questionnaires for candidates running in local races in Wake, Orange, and Durham counties, and for state house and senate seats in Triangle districts, are live and will continue to be updated. We’ll be reporting up to Election Day on November 5 and after and plan to bring you coverage on state constitutional amendments, candidate visits, and more. Send us your election thoughts, questions, and concerns and we’ll try to get you answers promptly. 

Good morning, readers.

Durham’s Democrats celebrated the first day of early voting last week with a visit from some of the biggest names in politics.

Secret service agents paced the catwalk above the Lyon Park community center gym while former president Bill Clinton and current vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz made the case against four more years of President Donald Trump. 

“You remember 2016, you remember the way [Trump] talked,” said Walz. “This is not that Trump. This is something much more deranged, something much more desperate.”

Clinton, delivering the message that he is “not running for anything anymore except my grandchildren’s future,” pointed out that he is only two months younger than Trump. Later, he joked that he has a petition ready in case he gets sent to prison by a weaponized Justice Department in the second Trump administration.

“I want him to transfer me to Guantanamo ‘cause when you’re 78 you’re a lot more worried about it being too cold than being too hot,” Clinton said.

But as Clinton’s speech dragged on for 40 minutes without a clear structure, Democrats may have been reminded of why they recently pushed Joe Biden, 81, off the ticket. And the event may have become a rare instance when the warmup band—a lineup of Durham’s own local officials—was more exciting than the headliner.

Mayor Pro-Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton, Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, state Sen. Natalie Murdock, and state Rep. Zach Hawkins delivered succinct and energetic speeches that seemed to resonate better with the crowd in North Carolina’s largest Black-led city.

“NORTH CAROLINAAAAAAAA,” roared Middleton at one point. “Come on and raise up!”

Check out the full story here. And have a good Tuesday. 

—Chase

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