DEMOCRAT OF THE DAY – Sabrina Saunders: Inspired by the Democrats who saved her city

What sparked Sabrina Saunders’ commitment to the Democratic Party was what she saw as Pittsburgh rose from the dead.

“I believe in the value of education and the value of increasing the skills of the work force,” Saunders said Tuesday as she sat on the floor at the Charlotte Convention Center waiting for activities to begin at the Democratic National Convention.

Saunders, 31, is in Charlotte as a delegate from her hometown of Pittsburgh. Her passion for education issues, she said, stemmed from her upbringing in what she called a rundown city. She witnessed the re-education of Pittsburgh-area workers so they could make a living after the steel industry was devastated.

“Steel was the law of the land in Pittsburgh for many years,” she said. “When that dried up, we had to reform ourselves, we had to transform our economy, and I think Democrats helped to do that.”

Saunders said she had seen the city change from being a burned-out husk to having cranes in the air on almost every other block.

“We do have a Republican (Tom Corbett) for governor now in Pennsylvania, but most of the time we like to work across party lines,” she said. “But to me, the Democrats have always cared more about real people, and they have always been closer to my everyday life. They don’t just empathize with us. They know what we’re going through because they go through these problems, too.”

She said that early in her life, she was heavily influenced by a local nonprofit group in Pittsburgh that was working to restore the inner-city. The group, she said, was nonpartisan but received a lot of money from Democratic Party sources.

“At the time we had Mayor Thomas Murphy (a Democrat), and he always seemed to care about my community, what we call the lower side of Pittsburgh,” she said. “He was a part of the community, and he came from that area, so he cared about where I grew up.”

Saunders also said she was a Democrat because she felt Democrats were smart.

“I do know some smart Republicans,” she said. “But only a few.”

DNC HQ: Housing the Party

Follow The Mecklenburg Times as we cover Charlotte’s week as host city for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Stay current with news, photos, Tweets and more with our continually updated feature, DNC HQ.