Former President Bill Clinton attended a pair of Philadelphia fundraisers Thursday for former Rep. Marjorie Margolies (D-Pa.), who is a candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 13th District and his daughter Chelsea's mother-in-law.
Margolies faces state Sen. Daylin Leach, state Rep. Brendan Boyle and physician Val Arkoosh in the Democratic primary to represent a very blue district in northeast Philadelphia and the city's northern suburbs.
At the fundraisers, which cost a minimum of $1,000 to attend and upward of $5,000 for a private reception with Clinton, the former president acknowledged his familial ties to Margolies, but said they weren't the only reason he attended.
“I want to get one thing out of the way,” Clinton said. “I would be here if her son was not my son-in-law.”
Instead, Clinton highlighted what has been a defining feature of Margolies' comeback candidacy: her 1993 vote for Clinton's 1994 tax-raising budget, which cost her the seat in a district that was more conservative at the time.
“I have an enormous confidence that Marjorie is the best-positioned to do the right thing for the future and that her record in the past is simply evidence of that," Clinton said Thursday. "I’m not coming here to say, ‘I’m voting for her because 20 years ago she saved the economy and gave up her seat to do it.’”
Leach released a web ad ahead of Clinton's appearances in which he painted Clinton -- and Margolies by extension -- as political figures of the past.
The primary's more progressive candidates, Leach and Arkoosh, have frequently raised the issue of Margolies' past support for cuts to Social Security benefits. Margolies has distanced herself from that stance as the district has changed.
Margolies' campaign told ABC News that the fundraisers brought in over $200,000, which will help her get on the air as the May 20 primary approaches.
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