RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
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MARTIN: And this is For the Record. In 10 months, Americans will go to the polls to pick the next president of the United States. As a way of digging into the issues facing a lot of Americans this year, we're focus on one community that's been going through a lot of change, Charlotte, N.C. It's in Mecklenburg County, and that whole region has been enjoying an economic boom. It's a major center for banking. There's a growing tech sector. At the same time, a recent study by Berkeley University and Harvard ranked Charlotte dead last when it comes to economic mobility compared to other major U.S. cities. That hasn't stopped an influx of immigrants. In fact, in the 1990s, the number of Hispanics in Mecklenburg County increased by 400 percent. And it's still growing. These changes in the county have led to debates over government overreach, income inequality and immigration. There are some of the same issues front and center in the presidential race, which makes it an interesting place to spend some time in the coming months. For the Record today, Mecklenburg County, N.C. Let's start with that economic boom.
DAN ROSELLI: The only thing you need to run a good entrepreneurship center is coffee, beer and fast Internet. That's really all you need. It's not a complicated formula.
MARTIN: This is Dan Roselli. He's the founder of Packard Place. And he's showing us around his offices in the center of Charlotte. It's an old automobile showroom that's now part startup incubator, part community center. I ask Roselli, as a businessman, as an entrepreneur, who he likes in the presidential race.
ROSELLI: It would be Bernie, then Hillary, and then Kasich, and then Cruz, something like that.
MARTIN: As indicated by his list of presidential preferences, Roselli is a registered independent. He says he doesn't vote on social issues. His top priority is economic growth.
ROSELLI: Whenever I talk to political fishers, the first thing I tell them is there should be a political Hippocratic oath, which is your first job as a politician, when it comes to business, is do no harm.
MARTIN: Roselli is one of the entrepreneurs who are redefining the downtown area. Other parts of the city are changing too.
DAMIAN JOHNSON: I'm gradually taking the hair down. I'm at a three now, was at a four.
MARTIN: This is No Grease barbershop on the west side of Charlotte. All the barbers here wear bowties. The place is decked out in mid-century modern furniture. It's throwback and cutting edge at the same time.
JOHNSON: You've got a little spiffy work, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yeah, yeah, my razzle-dazzle they call it.
MARTIN: Damian Johnson and his brother opened their first barbershop in Charlotte in 1997. He also owns the cafe next door, and that's where we go to talk.
JOHNSON: From my experience, West End is the new frontier of Charlotte. And so when we say the West End, it's like we're rooting for the West End to kind of take its rightful place in the development of Charlotte.
MARTIN: Barbershops have long been a place for political talk, especially in the black community. And it's important to Johnson to keep that tradition alive. I ask him who he likes in the presidential race.
JOHNSON: I've taken none of them really seriously. I've been listening closely to what Hillary is saying. But all the other candidates, it's like courting and dating. I have to listen to you more.
MARTIN: That was the case with most of the Democrats we spoke with in Charlotte. They're just not animated by the primary race. And that isn't completely surprising considering there are just three Democratic candidates compared to the 12 on the Republican side. Take, for example, the former mayor of Charlotte, Democrat Dan Clodfelter, who just left office recently.
You paying attention much to the presidential election right now?
DAN CLODFELTER: Not a great deal, actually.
MARTIN: Why?
CLODFELTER: (Laughter) Well, I'm already - I already have my candidate. I don't really need to be sold.
MARTIN: Who's your candidate?
CLODFELTER: Hillary Clinton.
MARTIN: Why?
CLODFELTER: Always has been.
MARTIN: Meanwhile, on the other side of Charlotte's political spectrum, there is an impassioned debate happening about the very soul of the Republican Party and one issue in particular.
MAUDIA MELENDEZ: The word of God says, be anger but do not sin. I am angry, very angry with the debate on immigration.
MARTIN: This is Maudia Melendez. Her family is originally from Nicaragua. She's a local minister and has lived in Charlotte since 1987. Recently, she's been fighting the Republican-controlled state government to give illegal immigrants special driving permits. And it's personal because it's her own party.
MELENDEZ: Yes, I am a Republican. But I'm very sad how the Republicans are treating my people.
MARTIN: She doesn't like to brandish her party affiliation because she works with a bipartisan nonprofit that tries to increase the low voter turnout rates among Hispanics here.
MELENDEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTIN: We continued our conversation at a Salvadoran restaurant where Melendez gathered a small group of community leaders and friends.
MELENDEZ: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: How are you?
MARTIN: Joining us at the table, Astrid Chrinos, Amelia Kennedy, Rafael Prieto, and Ron Cox. Before we sat down to devour a plate of pupusas, Maudia Melendez offered up a prayer.
MELENDEZ: And now we bless this food. And we ask you, Lord, to be for the nurturement (ph) of our bodies and remember those who are hungry at this time. And they don't have food at their table. And in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
MELENDEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yes.
MARTIN: So let me ask a question. As we think about where we are right now, having this conversation in 2016, looking down the pike at the presidential election, where does immigration reform stack up in your personal list of issues?
ASTRID CHRINOS: Oh, for me, number one because that's...
RAFAEL PRIETO: For me, number one.
MARTIN: Really?
CHRINOS: That's part of the economic opportunity. If you don't have that, you are not going to have progress. I mean, we're going to go backwards.
MARTIN: That was Astrid Chrinos, and Rafael Prieto.
Is it as important to you?
RON COX: Yes, yes. Think of it from a security standpoint.
MARTIN: And this is Ron Cox. He's the only non-Hispanic in the group, born and raised in Charlotte. He owns a landscaping company and has employed Hispanic immigrants for years.
COX: I began to see so many of the injustices and got to see a lot of them being taken advantage of. And it reached my core and my angst.
MARTIN: Cox says immigration reform is also a top issue for him. But he doesn't see any of the presidential candidates from either party proposing a real solution because he says their motivations are different.
COX: It's not about what's actually good for the state. It's not what's good about for the country. It's about what keeps my party in office.
MARTIN: Also at the table, Amelia Kennedy, who's part of the Republican Party leadership in the neighboring county. She and Maudia Melendez have been reaching out directly to some Republican candidates to talk about immigration reform.
MELENDEZ: We sat down with Cruz.
MARTIN: You did?
MELENDEZ: In a conversation with Cruz.
MARTIN: When?
MELENDEZ: When was it?
AMELIA KENNEDY: It was like...
MELENDEZ: Two, three months ago.
KENNEDY: Three months ago.
MARTIN: And did you feel like he heard you and your issues?
MELENDEZ: No. (Laughter) No, he wants to be president so bad that he has the same speech. We have to secure the border. But - and we ask, how is it that you're going to secure the border? You have to have a plan. We spent, like, 40 minutes with him, and we didn't get anything.
MARTIN: The next morning, we had a very different conversation with another group of voters at the Skyland Family Restaurant.
DON REID: You are at the headquarters of the conservative movement in Charlotte and North Carolina.
MARTIN: Don Reid has been hosting this conservative breakfast for years. There are about 50 people in the back area of the restaurant. It's overwhelmingly white and male. They're finishing up plates of bacon and eggs while Don Reid introduces some big-picture questions about the future of their party. And for him, it's very clear.
REID: And the Republicans are - have been so concerned in the past about appealing to minorities, to Latinos and others, that they've forgotten their own principles. And now they are out here saying again, we must have the big tent. No, that will not work. For the most part, minorities are not going to vote for a Republican. You can count on that.
MARTIN: Some people nod their heads in agreement, although John Powell puts out a different opinion to the room.
JOHN POWELL: From my experience, they've felt they're being ignored. And I think if we go out and actually offer our hand and welcome them and be able to supply with them a message of who we are, that's going to educate and have a better understanding of what the Republican Party is all about and what we can do to encourage everybody to be a part of the process.
MARTIN: Don Reid likes Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And in general, he's a Trump supporter. It's clear the majority in the room are sick and tired of establishment candidates.
REID: Who knows who's going to win? Would I or this crowd be happy with Cruz? Yep, I think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Absolutely.
REID: We'd be happy with Cruz. Would we be happy with Jeb Bush? Nope. For the first time in my life, if it's Jeb Bush or Hillary, I don't vote. That's it. I'm not voting.
ELTON: That'd be a vote for Hillary.
MARTIN: And that's the central tension in the room, establishment candidates versus the outsiders.
ELTON: If Trump is a nominee, he'll lose 35 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Well, if...
ELTON: If Trump is the Republican nominee, he will lose 35 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: An establishment Republican will not win.
REID: That's what you and Krauthemer think.
ELTON: No, no, facts are facts.
LARRY SHAHEEN: This is extremely productive. Change only comes through pain. And I like to - I actually - I have to admit, I think Donald Trump's great for our party.
MARTIN: How?
SHAHEEN: Because he is forcing us to have this conversation.
MARTIN: This is Larry Shaheen. He's a Charlotte native, a Republican political strategist with a big smile. Shaheen is technically a millennial. But he says he's not nearly hip enough to qualify. Shaheen tells me the Republican Party has to broaden its base, and that means changing the way it talks about immigration reform.
SHAHEEN: At some point, we have to get over this we-were-here-first idea because we weren't. And we're better as a society when we are able to find a way for rising tides to lift all boats, not just the boats that look like us. And we have to move from the party of opportunity for just a few to opportunity for all.
MARTIN: Opportunity for all is what Charlotte is all about. We heard that from Democrats, Republicans and from independents. People here want to ride this economic wave as far as it'll take them. And for many, that means welcoming anyone who wants to come and help make that happen. We'll be returning to Charlotte later in the year to check back in with some of the people you heard from today, to see how their views on the election are evolving.