Congressional candidate Kathy Manning visits College Democrats
By Lauren Fitch // Organizations Editor
High Point University College Democrats invited a special visitor to campus. On March 27, Kathy Manning, a local Greensboro lawyer and businesswoman, came to speak with HPU’s College Democrats as part of her college tour, meeting with students at various other schools to discuss the importance of political involvement.
Manning is running for congress against incumbent Ted BudD. This would not be out of the ordinary, except that Kathy is not a politician. As she said to the College Democrats, “I’m running because I have to.”
Manning was able to meet with the College Democrats of HPU for over an hour, detailing her ideas, why she’s running and why she needs the help of college students. More and more young people will be of voting age for the upcoming election. Manning is in the middle of her college tour right now because she knows the impact that young people can have.
Manning told the College Democrats that the issue that inspired her to run was health care. A few years ago, her daughter was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Her daughter was only able to get health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act.
When the Affordable Care Act was repealed, done in part by a vote from her opponent, Manning knew that she had to run. She is fortunate enough to be able to afford health care. Many people are not.
Manning said that her campaign is almost entirely run by young people. Her managers, interns and volunteers are Millennials more often than not. Her campaign manager first became involved in politics because she was in high school in 2008 when President Obama ran, and that was the first time she really believed in a political candidate who could make positive change.
College Democrats continues to expose students to real life experience in the realm of politics. Not only do these types of visits allow students to ask questions and decide who they want to vote for, but they introduce opportunities to become involved as well.
Manning encouraged students in the audience to apply for her fellowship program. Two students from HPU are currently interning for her, and she is always looking for more to join and become politically involved.