Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:19 pm
Hillary Clinton, fresh off a debate in which voters said she was the clear winner, rode into Ohio on Monday night and was greeted by a crowd of 18,500 enthusiastic supporters – a sign that the Buckeye State clearly isn’t out of reach for the Democratic nominee, as many pundits have suggested in recent days.
Holy cow .. huge crowd Hillary in Ohio pic.twitter.com/KETdH4ceKJ
— Waldy Smith (@smith_waldy) October 10, 2016
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Not to put too fine a point on it, but if this crowd was really 18,500, it’s by far the biggest of Clinton’s entire campaign. In Ohio.
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) October 11, 2016
The raucous rally comes on the heels of a debate in which most voters said Clinton was the winner and, more importantly, as Donald Trump’s campaign continues to implode following the release of video footage showing the Republican nominee bragging about sexually assaulting women.
At Ohio State University, Clinton rallied supporters and urged them to register to vote – the deadline in the Buckeye State is Oct. 11 – and cast their ballot early starting Oct. 12.
She also brought up the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape of Trump and criticized the Republican nominee’s defense of his remarks.
“No, that’s not what happens in our locker rooms,” Clinton said, referring to a flurry of athletes that have come forward to reject Trump’s assessment of what happens in locker rooms.
She also said the Republican nominee is trying to “deviate from our fundamental values” as a country and that Americans must reject it in November.
“The only way to rebuke this is to vote,” she urged her supporters. “Use the single most important, fundamental right we have as citizens of America.”
The enthusiasm for Clinton in Ohio is a sign that the pundits who claimed the state was out of reach for her  – and that her campaign is somehow lacking enthusiasm – were wrong. With the calendar flipped to October and voters becoming fully engaged in the election, the Democratic nominee has the momentum at a critical juncture in this campaign.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
