Will Bill and Hillary Clinton Please Just Go Away?

Ever notice how some old political operators, no matter how good they may have been in their heyday, prompt no reaction any more other than "Oh, for the luvva Peta, you again?" History is replete with examples of retired or disgraced politicians wearing out their welcomes and then hanging around anyway, and never has that been more true than for two people who are supposedly retired and who are definitely disgraced: Bill and Hillary Clinton. 

But that's not stopping these odious people from trying to recapture some relevancy. Now, they are sticking their oar in the 2026 midterm elections.

The Clintons are back on the midterm campaign circuit — with Bill Clinton heading to Florida to stump for Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly and Hillary Clinton taking to the podcast microphone as the party makes its final push toward Election Day.

The former president is scheduled to make his first public campaign appearance of the 2026 election cycle on Oct. 20 for Jolly, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat. Hillary, meanwhile, has teamed up with journalist Kara Swisher for a new midterm-focused podcast series and has been making campaign appearances of her own.

The moves bring two of the Democratic Party's most recognizable figures into the midterm fight as the party grapples with competing visions for its future, raising questions about how much influence the Clintons still wield as progressive candidates challenge the Democratic establishment.

Note: "Most recognizable" is not a synonym for "well loved" or even "tolerable."

What does it say about the Democrats' perception of their own prospects, by the way, if they are dragging out these fossils? Oh, Bill may bring in a few middle-of-the-road types who remember his moderate (by today's standards) presidency. Just to give the devil his due, Bill was, back in the day, a serious campaigner. He was glib, could speak contemporaneously at length on a variety of topics, he was charismatic and could be charming if he put his mind to it. He was also sleazy and corrupt, but those are things Democrats tend to overlook as long as one is ideologically pure.

Hillary, though, is everything Bill doesn't appear to be. She is strident, shrill, nasty, abrasive, and she has a sense of entitlement that is so huge that one has to measure it in parsecs. 

So Bill's off to Florida, and Hillary is pushing her aging mug in front of some innocent podcast viewers. One wonders what difference, at this point, does it make? Does the DNC have some internal polling that they find troubling? Troubling enough to unearth these two? 

At least one Dem operative is trying to put a good spin on it.

"President Clinton remains one of the most gifted political communicators this country has ever known, particularly when it comes to connecting with working-class voters on the economic issues that matter most," said Democratic strategist Kevin Walling. "But I don’t believe that Democrats are looking for a Clinton restoration — they’re looking for a path back to winning."

A path for winning. One that includes three-time loser Hillary Clinton. Well, that's not the dumbest idea ever, but it's in the top 100.

We're less than three weeks from the midterms. That's a small favor in one respect: After the election, Bill will go back to whatever he has been doing; Hillary will return to her customary dark depths, there to rest and feed until the Democrat Party summons her once more. That, at least, is a relief.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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