Sen. Patty Murray, Washington’s first female U.S. senator, recently returned from the Democratic convention and told Clark County Democrats on Saturday she was proud to see Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential candidate.
“It was amazing to me, as someone who has gone around our state and told woman after woman … that you can be whoever you want to be and give back and you can produce, to watch the highest glass ceiling get broken so women can reach for the sky,” Murray said.
Murray was in Vancouver as part of a campaign effort to get out the vote ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
Murray, the state’s most powerful Democrat in Washington, D.C., turned the phrase “mom in tennis shoes” from an insult into her campaign slogan. It was originally said to her in a dismissive fashion, as in you can’t accomplish much being a “mom in tennis shoes.”
On Saturday, wearing gray running sneakers, Murray also highlighted her campaign platform. She is seeking re-election for a fifth term.
She spoke of the need to raise the minimum wage and to ensure gender equity in wages, and she championed paid family leave.
She also referenced the shooting in Mukilteo on Saturday and said she believes in “common-sense” gun regulations, including universal background checks.
“If you’re on the no-fly list because you are a terrorist, you should not be able to buy a gun,” she said, adding that the National Rifle Association doesn’t speak for her.
She spoke to an audience full of Democratic candidates, including Sen. Annette Cleveland, Monica Stonier and David McDevitt, and she urged the crowd to knock on doors and make phone calls to convince people to vote.
“People who stay home and don’t vote allow someone else to choose for them, what their community looks like, what the values they live with are and what the future of our country is. … Don’t let anyone tell you their vote doesn’t count. One of those people you talk about may change the future of an election,” Murray said.
Another person in the audience was Tim Probst, who lost in 2012 to Sen. Don Benton by 76 votes.
