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Clinton campaign calls for debate in Flint

Posted at 3:56 PM, Jan 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-30 15:56:24-05

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Clinton’s campaign is calling for a Democratic debate to be held in Flint, Michigan, as the city copes with a lead-contaminated water crisis.

Clinton’s campaign has agreed with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to hold another presidential debate next week and the campaigns are discussing three more in the spring. The party hasn’t yet signed off on additional debates.

Clinton’s campaign says in a Saturday statement that one of the later debates should be in Flint, to “use the spotlight of the presidential campaign” to highlight the struggles of that city and “too many other predominantly low-income communities of color across America.”

Clinton previously called Flint’s water contamination “a civil rights issue” and said the response would have been more rapid if the situation had been in “a rich white suburb.” More than half of Flint’s 100,000 residents are black.