Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren visits Fairfield

Massachusetts Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren visited Fairfield Sunday.

The event, originally slated for Stan and Debi Plum's home, was moved to the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center to accommodate the influx of interest once it was known Sen. Warren was visiting.

'Seems like it was Wednesday-Thursday that they started receiving a bunch of RSVPs and they started scrambling to find a bigger place, because it was obvious it would not fit at our house,” explained Debi Plum.

One of the locals that made their way to the Warren rally was 15-year-old Fairfield High sophomore Tejah Kingsbury who wanted to see Bernie but didn't get a chance to.

'I really wanted to see one of the candidates, because I didn't get a chance to see any of the others because of school,” said the student-athlete. 'I thought it would be cool to experience it.”

What does Kingsbury think the Democratic nominee will have to do to unify the 23 small groups they have now?

'I think being relatable,” explained the varsity soccer starter. 'I like Elizabeth because I find her funny and I follow her on Twitter. I think that's a big part, too.”

While the soon-to-be junior won't be old enough to vote by election day, her top subject is climate change and her favorite topic discussed by Ms. Warren on Sunday was taxing the very top earners.

Warren suggested to the overflowing crowd that several things could be paid for if there was an addition 2-percent tax on all income over $50 million a year. She said it could cover nearly 95-percent of all student loan debt or fund universal child care for all.

Senator Warren's speech revolved around a three-point plan that included A. Attacking corruption head-on B. Structural Change in the Economy and C. Changing the rules to protect Democracy.

'For me, those three things are tightly related,” explained the Senator. 'It's about opportunity and who gets it.”

She highlighted that corporations such as Amazon should no longer be able to evade taxes while the average American pays their fair share and she encouraged laws to be changed to disallow gerrymandering and other forms of discrimination against voters rights.

While the rally went long and one-on-one's with media were nixed, Sen. Warren gave The Ledger time for one question as she left the building and headed for her next stop.

Q) With graduation here in Fairfield today and higher education being important to you, how do we make sure that we get students not only going to college, but fitting all of the slots needed throughout the trades so we don't have a shortage in our workforce?

Warren: 'I think the way we build a workforce is we invest in every single kid and that we make those commitments from early on. It's why I start with universal Pre-K for 3-4 years olds and high quality childcare for our babies age 0-5 and then all the way through K-12. Then tuition and fee free for technical school and two-year and four-year college. You know, I was a special needs teacher and I believe that when we invest in all of our kids and help each kid reach their maximum potential, that we'll all benefit from that and the slots will sort themselves out. We'll get that part straightened out, but what we have to do is make sure that every kid knows that they are valuable and we want them in school. We want them to learn and we want them to be able to build a real future for themselves.”