HOUSTON — Hillary Clinton told Texas Democrats on Friday that despite her devastating loss in last year's presidential election, the state provided a bright spot for the party going forward.
Clinton lost to Republican Donald Trump by 9 points in Texas, the narrowest margin of victory the GOP has has seen in Texas since 1996.
"This was the closest presidential election in Texas in two decades," said Clinton, whose campaign devoted little — but not zero — resources to the state. "We didn't spend any money. We didn't have it to spend here, but we had you and millions of other Texans."
Clinton's comments at a luncheon for Annie's List, a group that works to elect Democratic women in Texas, marked one of her first political appearances since the election. She opened her speech by briefly commenting on Trump's decision Thursday to launch a military on a Syrian government airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack there.
“The action taken last night needs to be followed by a broader strategy to end Syria’s civil war," said Clinton, who served as U.S. secretary of state under President Obama. "I also hope [the Trump administration] will recognize that you cannot in one breath speak of protecting Syrian babies and in the next close America's doors to them."
