DURHAM, New Hampshire — Hillary Clinton will take a break from the New Hampshire campaign trail Sunday to travel to Flint, Michigan, where she’ll highlight the city’s water crisis and push a stalled piece of legislation to aid the city, campaign officials tell MSNBC.
Clinton’s campaign stressed that she will hold a public event in New Hampshire every day before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday, including Superbowl Sunday. She trails Sen Bernie Sanders by 20 points in the Granite State, according to a new NBC News poll.
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The visit to Flint follows Clinton’s attentiveness to the issues of the water crisis, which has left thousands of residents with leaded and undrinkable running water in their homes. Clinton sent a top staffer to the poor, largely minority city to speak out about the issue on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” shortly before Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder requested funds to help residents.
The mayor of Flint has endorsed Clinton, who devoted her entire closing argument in the last Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina to to the crisis. Her campaign has called for another Democratic debate in Flint.
Clinton is counting on strong support among African-Americans in states that hold primaries and caucuses in March to help her stop Sanders’ insurgent campaign, and Flint’s water crisis has been an effective symbol in reaching out to the underserved community.
The trip also suggests she’s looking past New Hampshire, where she is expected to lose, to the friendly terrain of South Carolina, where a majority of Democratic primary voters are expected to be black.
Alex Seitz-Wald