The road to the presidency runs through Perris – of course.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is coming back to the Inland Empire, this time for a 6:15 p.m. talk Thursday, June 2, with community leaders at Casa Jimenez restaurant in Perris.

Clinton’s campaign described the private meeting, which is closed to the public, as a “conversation with community leaders.” The leaders’ names and the topic of conversation were not immediately available.

LIVE COVERAGE: Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton visits Perris

Casa Jimenez manager Enrique Curiel said by phone that Clinton’s campaign called the Mexican restaurant Wednesday to arrange a place to meet for a couple of hours.

“They just said they wanted to use my restaurant for Hillary,” said Curiel, who wasn’t sure whether they will be eating dinner at Casa Jimenez.

In order to accommodate her, Curiel said they will close the doors around 2 p.m. Thursday. Normally the restaurant, which can hold 150 people, closes at 10 p.m.

Asked what menu items he might recommend if Clinton does eat, Curiel chuckled and said he would recommend anything on the menu, but their specialties are seafood platters and carne asada plates.

“Everybody’s looking forward to it,” said Curiel. “It’s something you don’t hear about every day.”

Curiel said he did not have to juggle any schedules or bring in reinforcements, that the standard staffing plan for the day could handle the event.

It’s the second Inland Empire stop for Clinton, who held a rally at UC Riverside on May 24. Earlier Thursday, she will give a speech on national security in San Diego before attending a get-out-the-vote event in El Centro.

Clinton holds a lead of 268 pledged delegates over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as of Wednesday – her advantage balloons to 767 if you include “superdelegates” who are free to support the candidate of their choice – in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. And she’s expected to clinch the nomination Tuesday, when California’s primary takes place.

Even if she loses California, Clinton would still be on track to secure the nomination unless Sanders wins the state by an overwhelming margin. But a loss here would be damaging to her campaign and give Sanders more leverage in his long-shot bid to win the nomination or, failing that, shape the Democratic Party platform.

With that in mind, Clinton canceled planned campaign stops in New Jersey to spend more time in California. Helping her on the campaign trail is her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who also has been making public appearances on his wife’s behalf.

Polls are mixed for Hillary Clinton, with some showing a comfortable lead over Sanders and others showing her leading by a razor-thin margin. Sanders has made a last stand of sorts in California, barnstorming the state in a tour that included stops in Riverside – the same day as Clinton – and Cathedral City.

While the Republican Party holds a slight edge in Riverside County’s overall voter registration, Perris is friendly territory for Democrats. Of the city’s roughly 24,000 registered voters, 53 percent are Democrats and 21 percent are Republican, according to the county registrar of voters.

Seven in 10 city residents are Latino, census figures show. Clinton has done well with the Latino population and is counting on Latino votes to help her win the California primary and the November general election against presumed GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Trump has yet to make a campaign stop in either Riverside or San Bernardino county.

The Latino vote is crucial to Clinton’s chances, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.

“It’s very important that she shore up her support among Hispanic voters,” he said. “Also, she needs to energize Hispanic turnout for the fall. She is no danger of losing California to Trump. But more generally, she needs to energize Hispanic voters nationwide.”

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