Bill Clinton stumps for Hillary across the Empire State

Few would have predicted that Hillary Clinton would have to work so hard to win the Empire State.

But as the April 19 primary draws near, she and former President Bill Clinton have been putting considerable time in, working to maintain a narrowing lead over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in a state where she was once a U.S. Senator.

Bill Clinton went on a three-stop tour of New York on Tuesday, starting in Long Island before moving on to rallies in suburban Buffalo and Rochester, touting the campaign message of economic and racial justice that has become her camp’s mantra in recent months.

Speaking at a banquet hall outside of Buffalo, he told a crowd of about 850 rowdy supporters that the campaign needs New York voters to get to the polls on primary day and to get others to the polls as well.

“We need you to tell everybody in Western New York that this is the election that could matter most in this whole, long primary season,” Bill Clinton said to a roar of applause.

The former president’s trip comes just one day after Hillary Clinton joined Gov. Andrew Cuomo at an event in Manhattan where the governor was celebrating the passage of paid family leave legislation and a minimum wage hike, two key victories won by progressive leadership as part of state budget negotiations.

The Clintons’ New York efforts also follow the release over the weekend of a CBS News poll showing Sanders just 10 points behind, while earlier polls had shown the former U.S. secretary of state ahead by more than 20 points.

During the Buffalo rally, Bill Clinton highlighted ways that Hillary Clinton had proven her mettle as a fighter for middle-class New Yorkers over the years, pointing to her efforts to get the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus off the ground, while also outlining a progressive plan she would implement were she to become president. She would prioritize infrastructure projects and job training, and would work to eliminate student debt and make college affordable for everyone, he said.

“We won’t all rise together if we don’t have a president with a strategy for us to all rise together,” Bill Clinton said.

For months the Clinton campaign has worked to combat Sanders’ attacks from the left and assert her progressive credentials. While Bill Clinton continued to push that narrative, he also repeated another assertion often made on the campaign trail: that Hillary will be able to implement the plans she has laid while also having the foreign policy experience to deal with an increasingly dangerous world.

“We can’t afford not to elect a president who can go in there and do their job on the very first day,” Bill Clinton said.

While Hillary Clinton’s support among Democratic voters in the state has been tenuous, elected officials from her party are almost entirely on board. Western New York was no different, with Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and a host of others turning out to speak in support of the Clinton campaign.

Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy Zellner said he was very happy with the way the event turned out.

While the Sanders campaign has worked to downplay Hillary Clinton’s progressive leanings, her work in Western New York and with groups like Planned Parenthood and the Congressional Black Caucus offer ample proof that, were she elected president, she would lead the nation in a way that reflects those Democratic ideals, Zellner said.

“She has the support of those groups for a reason,” Zellner said. “It’s because she is a proven fighter for those causes.”

While Hillary Clinton’s lead is still relatively comfortable, the fact that Sanders has gained ground should be a signal of just how important these final weeks leading up to the primary will be for her campaign, he said.

“What we’re doing here is not taking anything for granted,” Zellner said. “We had a huge crowd here today that we’re hoping leaves here as energized as they were when they got here, if not more, and goes out and knocks on doors and makes phone calls and does everything we need to get the word out about the primary.”