Former President Bill Clinton made a surprise stop in Bristol Borough Tuesday afternoon in support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Around 200 supporters and volunteers piled into the Democratic campaign offices on Mill Street to see Clinton, who organized the visit last-minute before scheduled campaign stops throughout Montgomery County.
“We were here at the campaign meeting last night and they told us that somebody was coming, somebody special,” said Linda Mitala, a Clinton volunteer from Falls Township. “They didn’t tell us who so we figured we’d just come back and see.”
Clinton met with a small group of volunteers in the back offices of the building before addressing the crowd. His message centered mainly on getting people out to vote, but touched on prescription drugs and heroin, immigration, expanding voting rights and other issues of the campaign.
“She’s the only candidate with an understanding of the rest of the world to keep us safe and strong,” Clinton said of his wife. “Think about what ‘Stronger Together’ means. Think about her campaign and the one against it. One offers anger, the other offers answers. One offers resentment, the other offers empowerment.”
“She’s the only person you can vote for who’s gotten anything done in Congress,” Clinton continued.
Clinton’s visit shows again that Democrats are focusing heavily on the Philadelphia collar counties to swing Pennsylvania their way. Earlier in the month, Vice President Joe Biden stumped for the presidential nominee at Bucks County Community College’s Lower Bucks Campus.
In Bucks, campaign offices in Bristol Borough and Doylestown have been active in recruiting volunteers.
“It was the thrill of a lifetime,” Tess Ross, a volunteer from Bristol Township said. “Very inspiring.”
A recent Bloomberg Politics poll shows Clinton with a 9-point lead in Pennsylvania, and a 28 percent lead in Philadelphia’s four suburban counties, with a 67 to 24 percent lead among women in that area. The poll was taken days after a video from 2005 surfaced of Republican Donald Trump making lewd comments about women.
“Keep working ’til the end,” Clinton told volunteers. “Every vote counts.”
