Thousands of students, faculty and local community members piled into the LJVM Coliseum on Thursday, Oct. 27 to hear Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama speak at a rally sponsored by the Clinton campaign.

The event opened with performances from Wake Forest’s own choir and Demon Divas as well as a short video appearance from Chris Paul.

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Deborah Ross, the mayor of Winston-Salem, former North Carolina senator Kay Hagan and a number of congressmen from across the U.S. spoke in support of the party’s candidates.

The event’s main focus was to emphasize the importance of not only early voting, but each individual’s vote as well.

According to both Clinton and Obama, President Barack Obama’s win in the 2008 election in North Carolina was decided by just 12 votes.

Clinton received loud applause when she came on stage, but the audience was more excited about Obama.

While Clinton discussed her appreciation and admiration of Obama as well as many of the issues at stake in this election including climate change, national security, immigration, Obama spoke highly of the many achievements Clinton has had in her life time. She believes Clinton to be more highly qualified for the job as president than not only Bill Clinton, but also her husband Barack Obama.

Sophomore Zachary Bynum, a Clinton supporter and a member of Wake the Vote, said he was more excited to hear Obama speak than Clinton.

“I was looking forward to Obama more because I went to the DNC this summer, and I did not get see her the night she spoke,” Bynum said. “So, it felt very full circle.”

By Chris Caswell, [email protected] and Melissa Libutti [email protected]