In Tampa, Hillary Clinton tells Democrats Harris must win the popular vote & the Electoral College

Hillary Clinton in Tampa on Nov. 2, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)

With Florida falling out of favor as one of the elite battleground states where presidential elections are fought, appearances by the candidates' high-profile surrogates, much less the candidates themselves, haven't happened much this election cycle in the Sunshine State.

That changed on Saturday, when Hillary Clinton addressed more than 120 Democrats who gathered at the "Casa Kamala" headquarters of the Hillsborough County Hispanic Caucus in Tampa.

"Florida's a tough, tough state but we've got a lot of tough, tough people here in this audience," Clinton said in a 17-minute speech to local party members, many of whom were poised to campaign for Kamala Harris later in the day.

Although Clinton spoke on behalf of Harris's candidacy during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the former secretary of state hadn't gone on the road until Saturday, when she was already scheduled to appear later in the day to discuss her new book, "Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty," at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

He wants to be in charge of everything with no accountability. Which is a recipe for not just trouble, but dictatorship. And we have one party in Congress, unfortunately, who seems willing to let him have his own way.

– Hillary Clinton

"I've known Kamala Harris for a long time," Clinton said. "We know [Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff) personally, but we also know her politically. We know she has the character. The temperament. The values. The self-discipline to be the president. This is not a job you give to somebody who is impulsive."

Clinton laid into Donald Trump, to whom she lost the White House in 2016.

"When he says he wants to be a dictator on day one, why do people say, 'Oh, he doesn't mean it?'" she asked the crowd — adding that the GOP presidential nominee is a fan of authoritarians and a disbeliever in what she called the "fundamental values and institutions and ideals of the United States of America."

"He wants to be in charge of everything with no accountability," she said. "Which is a recipe for not just trouble, but dictatorship. And we have one party in Congress, unfortunately, who seems willing to let him have his own way."

'They know better'

Clinton served as U.S. senator from New York from 2000-2008. She said she still knows some of the Republicans who served when she did and that "they know better" than to not speak out more critically about the former and potentially next president of the United States.

"I listen to the excuses they make about what Trump says, trying to explain it away," she said. "What he says about our fellow Americans. And remember, he has been attacking immigrants. He's been attacking Latinos, in particular Puerto Ricans recently at that disgraceful event that he held in New York. He attacks women all the time. He attacks the LGBTQ community. He attacks people with disabilities."

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, Clinton said, present a different, more optimistic plan for the future. She bemoaned the fact that because Florida is no longer a swing-state (because of the Republicans' dominance in voter-registration), Harris herself never made a campaign appearance here after succeeding Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee in July.

"If you didn't have the Electoral College, you would have seen her in Florida. But you know, there's only a few states that people go to in these campaigns, which I think is very unfortunate," she said. "Because we should have a national campaign where candidates go everywhere across the country ... instead of being stuck with this artificial anachronism that limits the campaign to seven states. Totally wrong."

Clinton won the popular vote over Trump in 2016 but lost to him in the Electoral College. She said Harris must win in a decisive victory on Tuesday to quell a similar scenario.

"We have to make sure she wins both the popular vote and the Electoral College," she said, the crowd erupting in cheers.

Florida races

Clinton praised Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate against Rick Scott. Scott has led in public opinion polls throughout the year, but Mucarsel-Powell has remained competitive, with a recent having her down by just 3 points to the GOP incumbent (another survey released Saturday by Stetson University's Center for Public Opinion Research has Scott up by 7 points, 53%-46%).

"Debbie Murcasel Powell has been running a terrific campaign," Clinton said. "You know, when she first started, you didn't give her much of a chance. Nobody gave her much of a chance, but she's been dogged and determined and has been running a campaign that shows she will offer the kind of leadership Florida deserves to have in the Senate. And so, I think her race is very close — again, it will come to turnout."

Clinton told the Democrats they need to back their congressional candidates in two other Tampa Bay area races — Whitney Fox over Anna Paulina Luna in Florida's 13th Congressional District and Pat Kemp over Laurel Lee in Florida's 15th Congressional District.

And she asked everyone who hadn't yet voted to get behind Amendment 4, the proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution.

"Donald Trump cleaned her clock'

Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power didn't make much of the former First Lady's entrance into the campaign.

"You know times are pretty bad for Florida Democrats when the best the DNC can send to help rally the troops is Hillary Clinton," he said in a statement on Friday. "We're not just saying this because we are 'deplorables' or 'garbage' — it's because Donald Trump cleaned her clock in 2016, just like he will on November 5th to Kamala Harris.

"Nikki Fried is delusional if she thinks Hillary will make Kamala Harris more appealing to Florida voters when they have continuously rejected her dangerous Democrat policies that have crippled our economy, opened our borders, and made the world a dangerous place," he added, referring to the Florida Democratic Party chair. "We are confident that President Trump will fix all that Kamala has broken."

The RealClearPolitics average shows Trump leading Harris by 8.5% percentage points in Florida.

Meanwhile Bill Clinton was scheduled to make his own appearance on behalf of the Harris-Walz ticket in Orlando on Sunday afternoon.