Chelsea Clinton rallied a standing room only room full of supporters and voters Friday afternoon at Capstone House in an effort to ensure turnout for her mother, Hillary's, campaign on the eve of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary.
Clinton started her remarks by acknowledging the fact she is pregnant with her second child and taking a seat rather than stand while speaking. She reminisced about her life so far in politics. "I grew up going to events like this," she said.
Clinton then launched into a detailed and multi-pronged soliloquy on the issues important to her and why she believes her mother is the best candidate on those issues. "Obamacare" grew out of "Hillarycare," she noted, and according to her Hillary would work to improve on the improvements made in health insurance under President Obama. But, Clinton acknowledged, there is still work to do. “We need to do more to incentivize governors like yours to take federal funding to expand Medicaid so we get to 100 percent coverage," she said.
The Supreme Court was another issue Clinton touched on. She took a moment to acknowledge the tragedy of Justice Antonin Scalia's passing, and said everyone should remember his contributions and mourn his death. “It’s important ... that we remember our shared humanity, particularly in an election year," she said.
However, Clinton said she agreed with President Obama's push to appoint a replacement before the end of his term, and said the Supreme Court and all of the weighty issues before it are deeply important to her mother — especially campaign finance reform. She noted that Citizens United was a group created to run attack ads against Hillary. “I think it’s hard to argue she doesn’t have a personal interest in overturning Citizens United, as well as clearly an ethical interest and moral interest in getting unaccountable money out of politics,” Chelsea said.
Clinton also said she believes her mother will work to advance women's rights and gay rights at home and around the world. “I think what my mom did in the State Department really speaks to understanding how to make government work on behalf of our values,” she said.
“Clearly I’m a really passionate advocate for my mom and I deeply believe in her,” Chelsea said. She spoke about the importance of the next generation and how she has come to appreciate that as a new and expecting mother. She says it has deepened her support for Hillary. "When I think about the world that I want my children to grow up in …I couldn’t imagine a better president for them and their generation than my mom,” Clinton said.
Clinton then took questions from students and other voters in the room. One question came from fourth-year mass communications student Morgan Simpson. "How do you feel as though your mother has evolved as a candidate from this election versus the 2008 election?" he asked.
Clinton pointed to Hillary's time as Secretary of State. “I think she has a much deeper understand of foreign policy, of what it means to be a leader in the world," Clinton answered. "I don’t know if that’s what her answer would be, admittedly, but from my observation of her as a daughter and clearly as an interested citizen, that’s what I see the biggest difference as when I listen to her talk today.”
Simpson said after the event he's supporting Clinton for the nomination over Bernie Sanders. “When it comes to Hillary versus Sanders, while I appreciate Sanders’ ideas, I don’t think they’re attainable," he said. "As Chelsea’s talking about, they’ll cost too much ... Hillary has given us a budget for all the plans she wants to do.”
One area in which Chelsea questioned the Sanders platform was on college affordability. She pointed to a provision that she says would require state governors to contribute in order to fund free tuition at public universities. “I don’t know if you think your governor is going to come up with more than $8 billion dollars that Senator Sanders' plan calls on South Carolina to come up with,” Clinton asked rhetorically. “I don’t if you have an extra $8 billion dollars in your state budget — probably not. But even if you did, Governor Haley and the state legislatures have actually been cutting back on funding for public universities, so it’s hard to imagine there would be a reversal.”
Clinton says her mother is passionate about the area of gun control and is pushing for universal background checks. "We also we need to close what is tragically known as the Charleston loophole,” she said, referencing a quirk in the background check law that allowed the shooter in the Emmanuel AME massacre to obtain a gun. "We also need to strip away the blanket immunity that exists for the gun industry," Clinton said. "This is something that Senator Sanders voted for. I’m thrilled that’s he’s changed his position…but I find it troubling that he voted for it in the first place.”
Clinton also talked about balancing her role campaigning for her mother with the desire to spend as much time as possible with her 17-month-old daughter, Charlotte. She says she video chats her every day from the campaign trail. “I’m pathetically grateful to FaceTime," she said. "On the days where I am gone and I don’t get to see her in person at least I get to see her. She now understands FaceTime — she kisses the phone, which literally warms my heart."
The last question from the audience was about electability, and the questioner referenced polls that show Sanders beating Republicans in a general election. Clinton said Hillary is ready to be a strong nominee. "There isn’t, I don’t think, anything you don’t know about my mom," she said. "I think she’s battle-tested, she’s battle-hardened. And I think that’s an important part of this because if the Republicans are being this nasty to each other, imagine how they are going to treat a Democrat.”
There was also a slight dig at Sanders in her answer. "I think it’s also important to look at statistics — 51 percent of Americans say they would never vote for a socialist," she said. "That, I think, is something that those of us who care a lot about electability should think about.”
In the end, Clinton said, it comes down to being able to govern once elected — although both are important. “I would choose my mom ... on electability and ability to govern any day of the week," she said.
Clinton closed the event with a request of the audience. "I hope you all are going to vote tomorrow," she said. "Of course I hope you’re going to vote for my mom — but please make sure you vote.”