As Hillary Clinton tries to regain the trust of West Virginia coal miners, she pledged to represent the coal industry and fight for workers protections and support “those who supported us for generations.”
“I came here knowing that there was some great deals of incredible sense of disappointments feeling disregarded and left behind. But I want to be a president for all of America. I am not writing off any part of America, any people in our country, and that includes here in West Virginia and coal country,” Clinton said during an interview with MSNBC in between campaign stops in West Virginia coal country.
The former secretary of state’s comments come as she attempts to regain the trust of West Virginians who took offense to her comment in March that her renewable energy plans would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
Although Clinton attempted to apologize for her “misstatement,” many voters don’t buy it. Little polling has been done in the state, but Bernie Sanders currently leads Clinton by 28 points among Democrats, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump is exceedingly popular in the rural state. Although Clinton won over West Virginia Democrats in the 2008 primary, the last Democratic nominee to win the state in a general election was her husband Bill Clinton in 1996.
“So, I have absolutely … no personal feeling of concern about me. I am concerned about people like him and his family,” Clinton said when asked if she was worried about coal miners in the state who dislike her. “That’s why I came here. I am well aware of the politics in west Virginia … It’s gotten increasingly challenging for Democrats to be successful.”
During the same interview, Clinton also said that she looked forward to a general election against Trump, if that were to be the case. Although the nominating process is not finished on either side, Clinton acknowledged that a race between the two of them would be the likely outcome, and if so, she would work to rally the women’s vote.
“People have been dumping stuff on me for 25 years, and here I am on the brink of being the first woman being nominated by a national party to run for president, which is an honor and a historic — I think this is a change election,” she said. “I cannot imagine more change than having the first woman president and having someone with a long record of working even the odds for people.
“I am not going to be responding to his every insult and attack,” she added. “That’s not what this election is coming down to.”
