Hillary Clinton speaks in Kansas City at religious convention

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton spoke in Missouri Thursday evening. It is her first stop in Missouri since becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for President.

She will take the stage at the National Baptist Convention, USA’s meeting in Kansas City. She was scheduled to speak at 5:15 p.m., but took the stage after 6 p.m.

Clinton touted usual campaign promises, such as closing the income gap between men and women, and “common sense gun reform” to the crowd of several thousand. The nominee also spent time speaking about her own Methodist faith, and her history of working in churches throughout the country. She complimented the work of the Baptist churches there, and praised the vibrancy of the work of the “Black church” in bringing communities together.

“People who look at the African American community and see only poverty, crime and despair are missing so much,” Clinton said.

The NBC, USA describes itself as the “oldest and largest African American religious organization” in the country. Some convention delegates said they were interested to hear what she had to say, while others were specifically excited for her to take the stage.

“She’s a strong woman, she’s not a dumb woman,” said Doris Cain, a delegate from Dallas. This year will mark her 15th convention attended, and she said she saw George W. Bush speak at a convention several years ago. Cain said she’s long been a Clinton supporter, admiring the humanitarian work of the Clinton Foundation.

“She’s been through a lot,” Cain said of Hillary Clinton. “She’s stronger than Margaret Thatcher. She’s another Madeleine Albright in my book.”

This comes two days after Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence spoke in both Springfield and Chesterfield. So far, presidential candidate Donald Trump has no planned stops in Missouri. He spoke in St. Louis earlier this year, right before Missouri’s primary.

Aaron Willard, Missouri’s director of Trump for President, took the opposite side of the argument on Clinton’s strength as leader.

“The evidence that Hillary Clinton is completely unfit to serve as President of the United States mounts by the day, with revelations of misuse of classified emails on her homebrew server and her pay-to-play scheme at the State Department where she traded official access for donations to the Clinton foundation from foreign agents,” the statement said.

Both Clinton and Trump will visit Missouri together on October 9, when the two debate at Washington University in St. Louis.