Orange County to be represented at DNC

With the 2012 Democratic National Convention only days away, four Orange County residents are getting especially excited.

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Orange County Democratic Party Chair Matt Hughes, the party’s Booker Creek precinct Vice-Chair Jake Gellar-Goad, and N.C. Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange) will serve as delegates from Orange County.

“This is really my first foray into any sort of national level Democratic activity,” Hughes said. “Being there will be one of the highlights of my political career.”

The Democratic National Convention will take place in Charlotte from Sept. 4 to 6, and it will draw thousands of delegates, politicians and party members from across the country.

North Carolina will send 158 delegates to the convention.

Insko and Hughes were elected as delegates at a district convention on May 19. Kleinschmidt and Gellar-Goad both lost at the district level, but they went on to win nominations at the state convention in Raleigh on June 16.

“When I didn’t win at the district level, I was not very optimistic that I would win at statewide level,” Kleinschmidt said.

“But I just said ‘Well, I’ll go for it,’ and I was very fortunate to be one of only a handful of people who were elected at the state level.”

Gellar-Goad said that he had to miss the state convention, but he learned that he was elected when his phone and email inboxes were flooded with messages.

“It was all a very exciting experience for someone who is new to this and isn’t an elected official or high in the party,” he said. “I’m just a vice-chair of a small precinct in a small neighborhood.”

Although President Obama is the only Democratic candidate, Insko said she thinks the delegates still have an important role to play.

“This will be a time to really motivate the base, bring people together and get them excited about the last push,” she said.

Democratic Party members will also hear from distinguished speakers like former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Obama himself.

“I feel like I’ve RSVP’d for more events than I can count,” Gellar-Goad said. “The only thing I haven’t RSVP’d for is sleep.”

Delegates will also have the opportunity to attend small-group meetings to discuss hot-button topics like health care and marriage equality.

Despite the excitement about the convention’s events, Mayor Kleinschmidt said he won’t forget why he’s there.

“I’m there to cast my vote and nominate the president as the standard bearer of the Democratic party,” Kleinschmidt said.

“I really believe that this year’s presidential election provides two very different paths that our country might go down. With the President and the past that he has, I have a lot of confidence in that direction.”

Contact the City editor at city@dailytarheel.com.