Clinton’s SC organizer now helping run her Florida campaign

The organizer who engineered Hillary Clinton’s landslide S.C. primary victory in February now is working on the Democratic nominee’s campaign in swing-state Florida.

Clay Middleton, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, has been named the regional political director for Clinton’s north Florida campaign.

“It’s no secret that South Carolina has a different role in the general election compared to the primary,” Middleton said. “For me, going to a battleground state like Florida and being able to help is a plus.”

Middleton was Clinton’s S.C. state director, helping the former secretary of state defeat U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont by nearly 50 percentage points.

Clinton has a better chance to win the 29 electoral votes in Florida — which President Barack Obama won with 50.01 percent of the vote in 2012 — than the nine votes in red-state South Carolina.

Middleton also worked on Obama’s 2008 S.C. primary campaign. Obama beat Clinton then by nearly 29 points.

Middleton has been in Florida since June.

Clinton has not announced who will run her S.C. campaign, but Middleton said he will advise whomever she picks.