Hillary Clinton will use a speech here on Wednesday to “call out” Republicans for blocking equal pay legislation, according to a campaign aide.
Clinton is making her first trip to South Carolina, the first-in-the-south primary state, as a 2016 presidential candidate. She last visited the Palmetto State as a candidate for President in 2008, when then-Sen. Barack Obama convincingly won the state in what became a messy and divisive race, and she has not been back since.
The presidential candidate “will call out Republicans for standing in the way of equal pay, and make clear their refusal to act is directly holding back American families,” the aide said ahead of the event, noting that Clinton will also outline “concrete actions we can take right now to move closer to equal pay and strengthen American families.”
Clinton’s comments will come during her keynote speech to the South Carolina House Democratic Women’s Caucus and the South Carolina Democratic Women’s Council at their Third Annual Day in Blue event.
Clinton will outline three key points, including passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, raising the minimum wage and promoting “pay transparency across our economy so that women have the information they need to negotiate fairly.”
In late 2014, Congressional Republicans blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act, telling reporters that the law is redundant given current anti-discrimination laws. Democrats, however, argue that the law is aimed at closing the wage gap for working women. Clinton has said in the past that equal pay would be a top priority for her as President, and her comment about congressional Republicans will be seen as a shot at Republican senators like Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, all of whom are running for president.
The former first lady is not the only presidential hopeful in Columbia on Wednesday. Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard executive and Republican presidential candidate, is also holding events in the city and is expected to blast Clinton’s record on equal pay.
Clinton has made the possibility that she would become the first female President of the United States a central part of her 2016 campaign, something she didn’t do in 2008. She regularly emphasizes her role as a mother and grandmother.
Before her speech in downtown Columbia, Clinton visited a Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles, a small restaurant in a strip mall outside the city. Followed by a small group of reporters, Clinton shook hands with patrons and reflected on coming back to South Carolina.
“Welcome to South Carolina,” one woman said after Clinton arrived.
“It is great to be back,” the presidential candidate responded.
Clinton took pictures with patrons, including Latoya Gates and Shaniqua Coley, two Army soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Jackson.
Clinton also spent time with Dayzjohna Roberts, a recent graduate from W.J. Keenan High School who was celebrating the event over chicken and waffles. She joked with her parents and had Nick Merrill, her spokesman and traveling press secretary, take a photo of the group.
The former secretary of state came to Kiki’s to hold a roundtable with six minority women small business owners, including Kitwanda “Kiki” Smith, the owner of the chicken and waffle shop, about the “challenges” facing business owners. Other women on the panel included the owner of an Italian shoe boutique and a financial adviser.
Clinton will also speak to a meeting of the House and Senate Democratic caucus at the South Carolina State House on Wednesday. The trip, according to aides, is aimed at both highlighting an issue she cares about — equal pay — and invigorating the state’s grassroots organizers.
Clinton’s Democratic critics in the state, like Dick Harpootlian, a well-known Democratic donor and supporter of Vice President Joe Biden, have said that the grassroots is not nearly as engaged and excited about Clinton as they need to be.
“That is what this is all about,” Harpootlian said about engaging the grassroots. “This is an early primary state where her ability to generate enthusiasm is key. And I don’t see that yet.”
That said, even Harpootlian admits that Clinton is the race’s overwhelming frontrunner and likely will be the party’s nominee.
“Unless Vice President Biden gets in,” he said somewhat wistfully, “she is going to be the nominee.”