BLOOMFIELD -- Hillary supporters packed a Metuchen pub and a Bloomfield housing complex to hear Chelsea Clinton as she stumped for her mother on Friday.

Clinton, who is pregnant with her second child, said voting as a mother now has made the election more personal for her and railed against "hateful rhetoric" from Republicans.

"I never thought in my lifetime I'd see the normalization of hate speech from the Republican party," Clinton said. "The daily diet of racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, anti-immigrant rhetoric, anti-worker's rights rhetoric, rhetoric against Americans with disabilities - and the policy proposals that flow from that. To build a wall around our country. To keep a list of Americans based on religion. To have discriminatory policing of certain neighborhoods. None of that is the country I want to live in or have my children grow up in."

Clinton spoke passionately about her mother's early work on the Arkansas early childhood education program HIPPY and her recent work with the state department's office of Global Women's Issues. She also highlighted her mother's efforts for universal healthcare in 1993, her work on the Children's Health Insurance program, overhauling the adoption and foster care system, extending the Veteran's Administration to include the National Guard, and increasing federal funding for early head start programs.

"I think what someone has done is a pretty good indicator of what they will or won't be able to do in the White House," Clinton said.

More than 100 supporters attended each of Chelsea Clinton's events on Friday, while her father former president Bill Clinton, also on the Jersey campaign trail, appeared in Paterson and Ewing.

Brandi Hudson, a Clinton fundraiser who took the day off from work to attend the Metuchen rally, said she feels this year's election is especially important.

"I can't imagine what eight years under anyone else would be like," Hudson said. "New Jersey needs a lot of help because we've had Chris Christie for as long as we have. I don't feel like we have a governor right now, and we need someone advocating for us and Hillary advocates for everyone."

In Bloomfield, Mayor Michael Venezia said most special to him is Hillary Clinton's work for 9/11 responders.

"One of the big things that's near and dear to me, having a brother that's a firefighter, is the 9/11 Zadroga bill, which Hillary fought for and got done," Venezia said.

"Seeing Chelsea helped me see the more human, family-oriented side of Hillary - not just Hillary as a politician, but as a mother," said Eileen Guillermo at the Bloomfield event.

Helene Ilg, a Bloomfield resident, said she came into the event leaning towards Bernie Sanders, but left as a Clinton supporter because of Chelsea's comments on her mother's proposal for debt forgiveness of student loans.

"I couldn't miss the opportunity to see the child of my favorite president and child of my next president," Ilg said. "Chelsea was lovely. Very sweet and very down to earth. I was leaning toward Sanders until today. Free college would be good, but debt forgiveness would be even better."

Bloomfield Councilman Carlos Pomares said he likes that Hillary is "self-made."

"I really appreciate that," Pomares said. "Self-made is hard for anybody, but in America, certainly for a woman. I saw that with my own mother. I think it's time in America to have a woman president. It's long overdue, frankly."

Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.