Toward the end of this weekend's Democratic debate, NBC moderator Lester Holt asked all three candidates if there was anything they wanted to say that they hadn't had a chance to yet. Martin O'Malley used his time to talk about immigration reform and Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Bernie Sanders decried the "corrupt campaign finance system."
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, focused on an issue that is far more local in scope, but no less important: the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan that began in April, 2014. Now, Flint Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver, who was elected in November of last year, is repaying Clinton for shining the national spotlight on Flint with a full-throated endorsement of the former Secretary of State.
"We want a friend like Hillary in the White House," Weaver said on a press call today organized by the Clinton campaign. "We need a fighter. We need someone fighting for the city of Flint."
Asked whether that means she's endorsing Clinton, Weaver said, "Yeah it does sound like it, doesn't it?" Then, she repeated the phrase, "I want Hillary. I want Hillary."
Weaver says she spoke personally with Clinton about how to fix the problem in Flint, where high levels of lead in the city's public water system have left its nearly 100,000 residents at risk of serious health issues and neurological damage. During the debate, both Clinton and Sanders called for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who they say knew about the problem long before he acted on it. But Weaver says Clinton is the only candidate, Democratic or Republican, who has personally reached out to her to talk about Flint's needs.
During Sunday's debate, Clinton claimed some of the credit for Governor Snyder's decision to ask President Obama to declare a state of emergency in Flint and $96 million in federal aid.
"I issued a statement about what we needed to do, and then I went on a TV show, and I said it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted, and within two hours he had," Clinton said. "I want to be a president who takes care of the big problems, and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday."
On Monday, Clinton reiterated her support for Flint, a predominantly black town where nearly 42 percent of citizens are living in poverty. "It’s a civil rights issue," Clinton said, during a Martin Luther King Day rally in Columbia, South Carolina. "We would be outraged if this happened to white kids, and we should be outraged that it’s happening right now to black kids."
Gov. Snyder, for his part, has criticized Clinton for politicizing the crisis. "Politicizing the issue doesn’t help matters," he told The Detroit News. And yet, on today's call, Mayor Weaver said that getting Flint on the national stage the way Clinton did on Sunday night has helped capture public attention. "People just started calling and texting and saying how thankful they were to her for bringing this up," she said.
It may also give Clinton an advantage over Sanders, who has struggled to woo black voters. By framing this as a civil rights issue and securing an endorsement from Flint's mayor, Clinton stands to solidify her support among a critically important base of Democratic voters.
