Accessibility links

Breaking News

Clinton Works to Extend New Lead Over Trump in Florida


Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton surveys the crowd during a campaign stop in Coral Springs, Florida, Sept. 30, 2016.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton surveys the crowd during a campaign stop in Coral Springs, Florida, Sept. 30, 2016.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attended two campaign events Friday in Florida as she tried to extend her newfound lead over opponent Donald Trump in a state that is key to a White House win in November.

Florida, a state rich with electoral votes that decide the election, recently favored Trump. As a new Mason-Dixon poll taken in the state showed, though, Clinton has taken a 4-percentage-point lead there over the real estate mogul since Monday's presidential debate.

Clinton victories in Florida and Pennsylvania would make it difficult for the Republican candidate to capture the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidential election.

During stops in Fort Pierce and Coral Springs, Clinton touted her plans to expand national service opportunities by tripling the size of AmeriCorps, growing the Peace Corps and creating a new national service reserve program.

In Fort Pierce, Clinton told supporters America is at its best when people work together, not when they take the "strongman approach" favored by Trump.

Trump supporters also attended the Fort Pierce rally and made their presence known with chants of "Lock her up" and "Hillary for prison."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks to a guest during his visit to Kent County Republican Headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 30, 2016.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks to a guest during his visit to Kent County Republican Headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 30, 2016.

Clinton's visit to Florida came amid signs of disorganization in Trump's campaign in the Sunshine State. An aide who became the face of Trump's campaign in the state announced her resignation after becoming disillusioned with his campaign.

"It's clear the campaign is now going into a direction I am no longer comfortable with, and I have decided to move on," Healy Baumgardner said in a statement.

Baumgardner's announcement came on the heels of days of controversy surrounding Trump's remarks about the weight of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

Trump made a campaign stop Friday in the battleground state of Michigan amid questions about his charitable foundation.

If New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman determines that Trump's foundation raised donations in violation of the law, he could prohibit the charity from seeking future donations or order Trump to return money that was previously raised.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG