As Early Voting Begins, Women In Nashville Raise Their Glasses To Both Trump And Clinton

For Trump, it’s a wine reception. For Clinton, it’s a blue cocktail party.

As early voting begins today in Tennessee, women on both sides of the political aisle are hosting social gatherings to drum up enthusiasm for their candidates of choice, even as both presidential campaigns see the state as a sure win for Donald Trump.

At the Trump campaign headquarters, next to the Bluebird Cafe in Green Hills, about 20 women mingled around a long folding table Tuesday night, sipping wine. Melissa Smithson, the Davidson County co-chair of Trump for President, says the idea is to urge women to reach out to other women.

“Just encourage your friends, your circles, to get out to vote,” she told the group. “A lot of people may be on the fence. That’s OK — just ask them to go vote, and then encourage them to vote for Trump.”

It’s a show of solidarity with a candidate who has been
losing support among female voters in the polls. Women are favoring Hillary Clinton over Trump by an average of 20 points, according to 
poll analysis site FiveThirtyEight. As turnoffs for women, Democrats point to his lewd comments caught on a 2005 video, his tweets about a former Miss Universe and what they call a bullying personality.

Smithson said, after she saw the 2005 footage, she suspected it might turn away some women who were undecided about Trump. But she and other supporters dismiss those incidents as trivial. Instead, Kathryn Huddleston said people should be focusing on policy-driven issues, like the economy.

“This business about women being turned away from Trump is a total myth,” Huddleston said. “I have a lot of close friends — they’re professional women, they’re all for Trump.”

And Connie Hunter, who was a delegate at this year’s Republican National Convention, pushes back at the idea that Trump’s personality is negatively affecting his campaign. For her, that’s part of his charm.

“I was on his bandwagon from the get-go, simply because of the way he kind of was a bully,” she said. “It’s time for the right to bully back the left.”

Trump is expected to win Tennessee by a wide margin. (Clinton’s campaign doesn’t even have an office in Nashville — the closest is in Chattanooga, according to her website.) But Clinton supporters are still trying to rally support as well: Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is hosting a party Wednesday night where women can paint a single fingernail blue and drink blue cocktails.