At the age of 92, first-time voter Beada Corum has become famous on Facebook — and perhaps even beyond the Internet — after her favorite presidential candidate posted her story.
The Knox County, Tennessee, resident said Donald Trump inspired her to register to vote for the first time early last month.
“I had never voted before, all my life, until now and I’m 92,” Corum said Thursday. “There is a certain candidate I thought made a good talk. I said, ‘My goodness, I think he needs to be elected to clean America up.’ I just made my mind up.”
Local news station WVLT went with her to the courthouse and ran a feature story on Corum last month. Since then, Trump has posted the story to his Facebook page, where it’s garnered more than 100,000 likes and 8,000 comments.
Affiliate news stations picked up the story, along with cable outlet Fox Business. On Friday, she will be on Fox & Friends, an early-morning program on Fox News.
But, perhaps most exciting for Corum, was the phone call she got from Trump while in a studio at the University of Tennessee for the Fox Business interview.
“I got to talk to him the other day and that was a great privilege to speak to him,” Corum said. “He told me, ‘I just told it the way it is,’ just the way he does. He said, ‘You have told the truth.’”
Corum said she was drawn to Trump because of he is “a strong talker” who has promised “to get everything right back in this country.”
Corum’s enthusiasm has inspired her whole family to become Trump fans, said her daughter, Debbie Day. The whole family, including children and grandchildren, planned to gather Thursday night for a Republican debate watch party.
Day said the family is proud and impressed by how widespread her popularity has become.
“I just Googled her name and there are hundreds and hundreds of people commenting on her — even in South Carolina and overseas in Russia,” Day said. “It’s everywhere. Her spunk has just livened people up and brought them to their sense.
“We love our mama, and we’re glad she’s doing this because she’s really made a difference for a lot of people.”