Hurt rally draws 300 in Danville

State Sen. Robert Hurt’s friends, family and supporters gathered at Danville’s Community Market on Monday evening to show support in his campaign to unseat Rep. Tom Perriello.

Delegates Danny Marshall greeted the crowd, encouraging them to get out and vote on Nov. 2 —and to encourage friends and neighbors to vote.

“No vote can go uncounted,” Marshall said, reminding the crowd that Perriello won the seat in 2008 by a mere 727 votes over former Rep. Virgil Goode.

Delegate Don Merricks led the in the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer, before introducing the Church Sisters, twin 14-year-old singers from Pittsylvania County, who entertained the crowd as they lined up for a catfish dinner and awaited Hurt’s arrival from other stops on the campaign trail.

Hurt arrived and made his way through the crowd, shaking hands with everyone seated at the tables and standing around the room, before former state Sen. Charles Hawkins went to the podium to speak to the group.

Hawkins talked about the years he has known Hurt, how Hawkins’ wife taught Hurt in school and how hard Hurt worked at area farms while growing up — and how the growing national debt will impact the country.

“He’s someone who understands what it means to work, make payroll and raise a family,” Hawkins said. “It’s not about us, it’s about the next generation, our children and grandchildren; they’re the ones who will have to pay it.”

Hawkins said it was time to “bring things back to some kind of order.”

When Hurt spoke, he agreed, noting over the last 18 months, all of the spending by the federal government had not helped decrease unemployment figures, but rather to increase them.

Hurt said his travels throughout the district had given him opportunities to talk to business owners and individuals who are concerned about jobs, spending and the $13 trillion national debt that “every little child running around this room will have to pay … it’s wrong, it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop now.”

The most important thing, Hurt said, is for the country to return to the principals of the Founding Fathers.

“That’s what people are yearning for — free enterprise, limited government and individual liberties,” Hurt said. “That’s what this battle is about … we’ve got 29 days to make this right, to deliver what our founders delivered to us.”

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