Trail tested

Janet Huckabee speaks to students

With the 2016 elections heating up and Donald Trump leading in the current poll numbers, candidates such as former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee are working to build a solid grassroots team and spread their name on the campaign trail.

Liberty University Helms School of Government welcomed Janet Huckabee, wife of Mike Huckabee, Wednesday, Oct. 21 to share about their experiences on the campaign trail.

Janet Huckabee visited Liberty to encourage the Lynchburg community and students in the Helms School of Government to participate in the 2016 elections.

She began her morning with Lynchburg constituents and some Liberty College Republicans at Famous Anthony’s on Wards Road for a breakfast.

Janet Huckabee shared her story as the former first lady of Arkansas and wife of Mike Huckabee. They have been married for more than 41 years and have three children and five grandchildren. While sharing her experiences on the campaign trail and doting about her grandchildren, the potential first lady of the White House also spoke about her husband and the 2016 presidential campaign.

Janet Huckabee began by sharing why her husband is running for office.

“I don’t want my grandchildren to tell me, ‘You taught me the Pledge of Allegiance, but what were you doing when America was tanking and in $18 trillion of debt?’” Janet Huckabee said.

“‘What were you doing when the rest of the world was hating us? What were you doing to make it better?’ I don’t want my grandchildren to say, ‘What were you doing?’ So when I tell you we run for our grandchildren, that is the honest truth.”

She said the nation hears day in and day out “Let’s make America great again,” which is coincidentally Donald Trump’s presidential slogan. She transitioned from that idea to say that she really does believe that America is great, but she did not hesitate to say the country needs to “refocus.”

“It is time we think about the people in this country,” Janet Huckabee said. “It is time we think about the $18 trillion of debt. It is time we think about our own situations, our own housing problems, our own people that we have in this country. What are we doing for this country? We have got some situations we have got to take care of. We need leadership.”

The small audience in Famous Anthony’s tuned in over the kitchen noise, and Janet Huckabee started talking about Congress and the dismal history they have left thus far, saying they have angered conservatives across the country.

The audience was given the opportunity to ask Janet Huckabee questions regarding voting and the current political situation in Washington and the nation.

Virginia Delegate and former Lynchburg City Council Member T. Scott Garrett asked Janet Huckabee, “What will you do as first lady in the White House?”

“I have been asked that many times, and we don’t know where we are going to be as a country or what we will be doing, and a part of being first lady is seeing what the country needs at that moment,” Janet Huckabee said. “It could be several things.”

However, she said one of her main concerns was health, primarily Alzheimer’s disease, which took her mother’s life a year ago.

Later in the afternoon, students from the Helms School of Government were given the chance to ask her questions, mainly regarding the balance of politics and faith.

Janet Huckabee ended her time with the students leaving a few words about her husband’s presidential strategy.

“Mike likes to think of himself as the quarterback supporting his team, not trying to take out the legs from underneath the other players,” Janet Huckabee said.

CREEKMORE is a news reporter.