Hillary Clinton bringing presidential bid to North Texas

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is heading back to North Texas.

On Nov. 17, Clinton plans to hold a public campaign event in Dallas to talk about “why she’s running (and) who and what she’ll fight for as president,” according to a campaign press release.

Few details are available about the visit, but Clinton’s campaign said “further details for members of the public interested in attending (are still) to come.”

“I’m excited Hillary is coming back to Texas,” said Jason Smith, a Fort Worth attorney and 2008 Clinton delegate who helped lead the Tarrant for Hillary effort. “She won here in 2008 and she will win the Democratic primary here in 2016, on her way to becoming our next president.”

Clinton, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, is the latest candidate to head to North Texas, hoping to claim a portion of Texas’ delegates when voters go to the polls for the presidential primary on March 1, 2016.

Last month, she canceled a public event in Dallas that was scheduled to coincide with a fundraiser.

“Clinton’s trip will be her latest effort to build support in primary states and a grassroots organization beyond the four early states, and work hard for every vote ahead of the March 1st Texas primary,” her campaign statement said.

The four early states — the only four to hold primary elections or caucuses before Texans head to the polls — are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. On March 1, Texas is one of 10 states to hold primary elections.

Texas lure

Republican presidential candidates have been in and out of North Texas recently, with a North Texas Presidential Forum in Plano, a Ben Carson book signing in Fort Worth, a Donald Trump rally in Dallas, a Rick Santorum visit to Fort Worth and a Ted Cruz rally in Fort Worth.

Clinton has made several trips to Texas in recent months, most recently holding public events geared to build grassrooots support and solidify Hispanic support in San Antonio and Houston. She also attended several fundraisers.

In 2008, she fought for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, battling with Barack Obama in state after state. For some time, many thought the presidential nomination might be decided by the party’s superdelegates.

Texas had an impact on the race and will be long remembered for giving Clinton the popular vote in that year’s Democratic primary, but ultimately giving Obama the victory by awarding him more delegates through the caucuses.

The often-criticized “Texas Two-Step” two-tierred system that awarded delegates through the two processes earlier this year was scrapped.

Earlier this year, the Texas Democratic Party (as well as the Republican Party of Texas) made plans to pick national convention delegates based on primary voting.

Looking back

In 2008, Clinton held a campaign rally in the Fort Worth Stockyards during her first presidential bid.

“I’ve always believed Texans had a real sense of what it took to have a president ... someone who would be able to stand up for our values and our interests,” she told a crowd of thousands.

At the time, as then-President George W. Bush was in his last year of the presidency, Clinton told Texans that they had a chance to “make up” for helping send him to the White House.

“We need a president who on Day One can go into that Oval Office and start repairing the damage,” she told the local crowd. “We’re going to have to clean house. Women are pretty good about that.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Hillary Clinton bringing presidential bid to North Texas."