State Sen. Kihuen to speak at Democrats’ convention
PHILADELPHIA — State Sen. Ruben Kihuen was backstage with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she came to Las Vegas last week for a campaign event where he introduced her.
Kihuen will get a bigger audience Thursday night, when he’s among the lineup of speakers at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
“When I ran into Hillary Clinton last week in Las Vegas, she mentioned it herself,” Kihuen said in an interview with the Review-Journal. “She said, ‘I’m very glad that we’re including you in the program.’”
She also told Kihuen she believed it would give him national exposure that helps his campaign, he said. Kihuen is running on the Democratic ticket for the 4th Congressional District seat of U.S. Rep. Cresent Hardy, R-Nev., who is seeking a second two-year term. The district includes North Las Vegas and six rural Nevada counties.
Kihuen, who was born in Mexico and immigrated with his family to the U.S., said his speech will touch on his background and outline why Clinton is the best choice over Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“We’re going to talk about why Hillary Clinton’s the best candidate and why Donald Trump is not good for working class families and immigrant families,” Kihuen said of his upcoming speech, which will be about three or four minutes.
Clinton, Kihuen said, is on “the right side of all the issues,” including raising the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work and immigration reform.
Kihuen said: “I’m just humbled to have the opportunity to be able to represent Nevada on such an important stage at such an important, historic moment in our time.”
A Nevada superdelegate, Kihuen supported Clinton throughout the nomination process, including before she won the state’s February Democratic caucus.
Kihuen will speak between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. PDT.
Clinton will give her acceptance speech on Thursday.
Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com. Find @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.