Roy Cooper and Mipso host campaign event on Rosemary Street

Singing to a crowd of hundreds atop the Wallace Parking Deck on East Rosemary Street, Mipso, a band of UNC graduates, added a new political flair to their lyrics by singing one their songs to Gov. Pat McCrory.

“When we get to the chorus you can think of dedicating it to our friend, Pat,” Jacob Sharp, Mipso’s mandolin player, said.

During their song, “Get Out,” Joseph Terrell chose to deviate from the traditional lyrics.

“Get out while you can, Pat McCrory. Oh, get out while you can,” Terrell sang to the crowd.

Throughout their performance, Mipso encouraged the audience to participate in early voting and confirmed their support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate and attorney general Roy Cooper.

Sharp said in an interview Cooper is part of the vision of North Carolina the band wants to support.

“We think he’s a really great guy and a Tar Heel,” he said. “And we just wanted to play a positive role in getting people excited about voting.”

Cooper started the evening by greeting the audience and speaking about the importance of the upcoming election before introducing Mipso.

“On Nov. 8, we’re gonna tell people that North Carolina is going forward and not backward,” he said.

Cooper received the largest cheers of the night when he expressed his desire to repeal House Bill 2 and help move the state past its recent challenges.

“We’re a state that wants to be inclusive and tell the rest of the country that we want everybody to come — people of all kinds,” he said. “We want you here, we want the LGBT community, we want people of all races and national origins, we want to be the kind of state that is moving forward.”

The event was organized as a campaign event for Cooper and also an opportunity to promote early voting amongst college-aged voters.

Hannah Chen, a UNC medical student, said she heard about the event through Facebook and thinks the event helps remind students of the importance of voting.

“I think it’s easy for people to say that their vote doesn’t matter because there’s so many people in America who can vote and it’s easy to just be like ‘Oh, I don’t matter,’” she said. “But every vote really does count, especially in North Carolina as a swing state.”

Sharp said he thinks it is important for younger voters to be politically engaged and aware because of the significant impact current policy can have on the future.

“I think it’s important to vote regardless of your age but right now, especially, seems like there’s a pretty big divide between people who are making decisions for our future without theirs in mind,” he said.

state@dailytarheel.com