Hillary Clinton wins big in Manatee County

MANATEE -- Joyce Mathis stepped out of the Palmetto Youth Center after voting in Florida's presidential primary late Tuesday afternoon. The 62-year-old said she voted for Hillary Clinton.

"I always admired her. I like her. I like her family," Mathis said, "and I like the job that she has done so far."

Final returns show Mathis was among a large majority of Democratic voters in Manatee County.

With all 71 precincts reporting, the former first lady and secretary of state had 7,857 votes, or 62.6 percent of the vote in Manatee, compared with 5,405, or 35 percent, for Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to the Manatee County Elections Office.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Clinton had 64.5 percent of the vote, compared with 33.2 percent for Sanders.

Mathis was one of many Democrats who set out throughout Manatee County to choose their candidate for the next possible president of the United States. The Palmetto resident even decided to bring 10-year-old granddaughter, Kellie Baity, with her.

"She's been wanting to learn how the system works, how the voting process works, so I brought her in today to show her how to vote, and which candidate to pick," Mathis said, looking up at her granddaughter. "What else did you learn?"

Kellie said she learned how to show poll workers your driver's license and how to enter your ballot.

Pat Benson, Manatee County chairwoman for the Clinton campaign, expressed excitement over the candidate reigning in Manatee.

"We worked hard. About five of my older ladies have been calling for weeks to get out the vote," she said. "People are just enthused about Hillary, especially the African-American community. They absolutely love the Clintons and the support is there for them. The base of our Democratic Party truly supports her."

The support for Clinton was deep from voters at the Palmetto Youth Center, 501 17th St. W., Palmetto. Among them was Corinthia Midgett, 29.

"The reason why I voted for Hillary is because I think she stands for what Democrats need right now in this day and time," she said. "Also, I'm just not a fan of Donald Trump. He's very negative. He just bashes women. He's not what I think America needs right now."

Midgett said she's not opposed to Bernie Sanders, but "it would be nice to have something more of a feminine movement inside the White House now."

Archie Lee Rhodes, 57, said he voted for Clinton because "the woman's very knowledgeable about the government."

"People like Donald Trump, though, they're not," he said, adding Trump just wants attention. "I don't think he's qualified to be a president of the United States."

Clinton's experience was a common theme among supporters, but it was a combination of anti-Clinton sentiment and free stuff for Bernie Sanders' supporters.

Shirley Darrell voted for Sanders, saying she wants free college for her granddaughter, and Clinton is "too wishy-washy."

"I think he'll be a stronger president than Hillary Clinton," she said.

For Sanders' supporter Dorothy Klodnicki, her vote came easy: "I didn't want to vote for Hillary Clinton. We need a change and someone who can turn this country around because it's in bad shape."

While Trump did garner a lot of support, Democratic voters took their anti-Trump notions one step further.

"I'm moving to Canada if Trump is elected," said Laura Moran, a Clinton supporter in East Manatee. "I'm not kidding. I understand people's anger, especially from the uneducated blue collar people, but we need someone who is not going to bring those people down. We need someone who will lift them up."

Jaime Canfield, Manatee chairman for the Sanders campaign, said Super Tuesday's poll results were a "great disappointment" to Sanders supporters.

"Hillary is going to keep up in perpetual war -- war without end on the foreign policy side," he said. "As far as nationally, while I'm really disappointed, it doesn't surprise me. She's (Clinton) such a household name, so I think a lot of Democrats did not make the effort to understand the difference in the candidates and I believe that Bernie, to us, is a spokesman for a dramatic change in the way government is run. The first step in that change is taking the money out of politics."

-- Mark Young, urban affairs reporter, contributed to this report.

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 11:51 PM with the headline "Hillary Clinton wins big in Manatee County ."