[ot-caption title=”Hillary speaking to supporters in Coconut Creek. (via Lisa Zheutlin, senior)”]

On Tuesday, October 25^th, thousands of Floridians gathered at Broward College in Coconut Creek to support Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.   Doors opened at noon and lines to get into the auditorium snaked around the parking lot, as campaign field organizers garnered volunteers and sold Hillary merchandise to the rally goers.  [spacer height=”20px”]

Once inside the auditorium, the room buzzed with anticipation of Clinton’s arrival. Behind the podium was a huge sign that said “Vote Early,” with the letter “o” replaced by an orange (the fruit) to add some Floridian flair to the event. The rally held nearly two thousand supporters, and almost all of them were clad in unique Hillary gear.[spacer height=”20px”]

A series of introductions were made for Clinton, the most notable of which came from House of Representative members Alcee Hastings, Ted Deutch, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, along with Patrick Murphy, who hopes to win a seat in the Senate for the state of Florida.[spacer height=”20px”]

Debbie Wasserman Schultz discussed what would happen under Hillary’s presidency.  “When she’s in the White House I can promise you this: we will build on the progress we made under President Obama. We’re going to finish rebuilding our economy…and we are going to make sure that America always remains, now and forever, the greatest country on the face of the Earth.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Ted Deutch took a different approach and tried to rally up volunteers from the audience by saying, “You have to go knock on doors. We have amazing volunteers from all over the country who are making phone calls to Florida, but they can’t knock on doors. You can.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Murphy was able to gain support from the audience by showing the policies that split him from his opponent, Marco Rubio, Florida’s current senator, such as minimum wage and student debt. Alluding to Michelle Obama’s famous quote on the campaign trail these days, Murphy stated, “Marco Rubio is staying low with Donald Trump, but I’m with her.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Many of these introductory speakers bashed Donald Trump for, among other things, his “nasty woman” comment, and criticized Rubio’s continuous support of Trump. Introducing Clinton as the most qualified person to lead this country, Murphy was joined on stage by Clinton to the deafening cheers from the audience.[spacer height=”20px”]

Clinton was glowing as she took the podium and thanked her introducers, especially Murphy. As Murphy is hoping to become Florida’s senator this year, Clinton voiced her support for him and his policies. Referring to a previous rally in Florida with Al Gore, Clinton stated, “We are seeing the reality of climate change every day in Florida. We are seeing areas in Miami on a sunny day, without a drop of rain, where the streets are flooding and the ocean is rising and what we’ve got to do is make sure that this issue: fighting climate change, creating clean renewable energy jobs, stays at the top of the priorities and that’s why we need a new senator like Patrick Murphy.”[spacer height=”20px”]

A large message that Clinton wanted voters to take away from the rally was the importance of voting early. Using stats to support her claim, Clinton said, “millions of people are registering, voting early, and volunteering…And we’ve reached a milestone: more than 200 million Americans are now registered and that includes 50 million young people and you know what? More than six million have already voted and more than one million of them are right here in Florida!” Clinton also urged voters to go across the street to the library and cast their vote early.  [spacer height=”20px”]

During her speech, Clinton clearly emphasized unity, an important message in her campaign. Clinton showed extreme excitement during her speech as “people are standing up for what they really believe in, and that includes not just Democrats, but Republicans and Independents coming together to reject hate and division.”   But Clinton made it clear that it is not just about beating her opponent when she said, “The energy we are seeing across Florida and America is not just because of what we are against. It’s about what we are for. It’s about fighting for that future where everyone counts.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Though Clinton has a huge lead in the current polls, she stated, “We still have a lot of work to do. I feel good, but boy, I am not taking anything for granted.” She promised supporters to keep fighting for the values that her campaign has promoted since her announcement of her candidacy back in April of 2015 and warned against any complacency.[spacer height=”20px”]

A fun moment during her speech occurred when audience members took advantage of the fact that Clinton’s 69^th birthday was the next day (October 26^th), and sang the Democratic nominee an energetic “happy birthday.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Many Pine Crest students and members of the Young Democrats Club attended the event, though not all were able to make it into the venue. Senior Ben Kelsky waited on line but was unable to get into the rally due to the auditorium reaching capacity. “It was disappointing that we were unable to see Clinton, but in the end us not getting into the auditorium is a good thing because it means Clinton has more support in Broward than expected.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Despite taking place one day before Clinton’s birthday, this rally’s timing was extremely important, as November 8^th is right around the corner. Regardless of political affiliation, in the words of Patrick Murphy, “It is so important that Florida turns out to make sure that their voices are heard…this election is critical.” Overall, the excitement at the rally energized volunteers and supporters alike, and proved that we really are “stronger together.”[spacer height=”20px”]

Source: Sun Sentinel