Former President Bill Clinton visited Portland on Friday to urge voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump.
Clinton, a Democrat who served from 1993 to 2001, will likely be the highest-profile surrogate for one of the major-party candidates to visit Maine ahead of Tuesday’s toss-up election. Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District were also among the speakers.
What they’re saying: Taking to the stage at Halo at The Point in Portland to the tune of “Soul Man” and cracking a few jokes during his speech, Clinton wasted no time in making a pitch to the audience by saying he “never saw anyone better than Trump at bragging and bashing.”
Clinton listed off legislative accomplishments during President Joe Biden’s tenure and said Harris will help “younger, working families” while criticizing Trump’s pledge to ramp up tariffs on foreign-made goods.
“It’s not too late to talk to people — not in an angry way, not in a hateful way,” he said, imploring Democrats to engage with their neighbors between now and Tuesday.
Mills called Trump “a weak individual” while leveling pointed jabs, including one aimed at the former president’s May guilty verdicts in New York for falsifying business records.
“He’s someone with no dirt under his nails,” she said. “[He] never had to work for a living and does not have the courage of his convictions, although he has plenty of convictions.”
The other side: Clinton has been one of Harris’ biggest surrogates in swing states, which is something that Republicans across the country have derided with tacit nods to the former president’s history, including his 1998 impeachment related to a sex scandal.
“In their latest effort to convince voters that decency and character are on the ballot this November, Wisconsin Democrats are turning to Bill Clinton to make their case,” Brian Schimming, the chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, said in a statement around a recent visit to the swing state. “Good luck with that.”
The big picture: Clinton noted surveys have given Trump an edge among voters when it comes to who they view as better for the economy but said many Americans whose lives improved during President Barack Obama’s second term after the recession and amid President Joe Biden’s tenure do not immediately notice the changes.
That’s one of the biggest hurdles for Harris, who is underperforming the 2020 version of Biden in national polls. Maine is expected to give three of its four electoral votes to Harris while former President Donald Trump is favored to earn one from the 2nd Congressional District for the third straight election.
