President Trump, Joe Biden In Florida Thursday To Rally Support
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – With just five days left until the election, the Florida battleground state is busy, with both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden hoping to swing it their way.
President Trump landed in Miami Thursday night and stayed overnight at his Trump National Doral Miami.
While there are no public campaign events scheduled for the President in Miami-Dade, he did tweet about South Florida politics overnight. He endorsed Republican Maria Elvira Salazar who is running for Congress. He also criticized her opponent, Rep. Donna Shalala, calling her a "political hack."
Biden will hold a drive-in rally in Coconut Creek Thursday afternoon, before heading to Tampa where both he and the President will hold dueling rallies.
RELATED: President Trump To Hold Rally Near Early Voting Site In Tampa
Biden's wife Jill will also hold virtual events Thursday for South Florida voters.
Saturday, October 31, Kamala Harris will travel to Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties to encourage Floridians to vote on the final weekend of early voting.
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"A few hundred votes this way or a few hundred votes that way in the I-4 corridor could put one on top," said USF Political Science Professor Ed Benton.
Benton said Central Florida, from Tampa to Daytona Beach, is a key indicator of who will win the election.
"If you took the demographic characteristics of these people," he said. "That they would almost always correctly predict, going back 30 and 40 years, who won the election."
But if they want Florida's 29 electoral votes, they must make sure people actually turnout. For the Trump campaign, it's making sure their usual supporters don't get too comfortable.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. made campaign stops in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, and Vero Beach to rally support.
"Oh Florida, you guys spoil me. The crowds here are too good. They're rowdy. I like it," Trump, Jr told supporters in Jacksonville.
His sister Ivanka was in Sarasota and Miami on Tuesday.
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Miami-Dade Republicans have been inching closer to the turnout number for Democrats in the county. That's with the help of in-person early voting. But Democrats are confident they will keep their lead.
"We are on pace to smash the turnout that we've put out in 2016. So, we are feeling very confident. We just need to keep working," said Steve Simeonidis, Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
"We are catching up. I think overall we are seeing a lot of energy and a lot of excitement on the Republican side for our candidates," said Miami-Dade Republican Party Chair Nelson Diaz.
For the Biden campaign, workers have been on a mission to turnout Black, Haitian, and Caribbean voters statewide.
Biden sent former President Barack Obama to North Miami last Saturday in an effort to make sure minorities vote. On Tuesday, Obama campaigned in Orlando for the hard-fought I-4 corridor.
"He's jealous of COVID's media coverage," Obama said. "If he had been focused on COVID from the beginning, cases wouldn't be reaching new record highs across the country this week."
The CBS News Election Battleground Tracker shows the Sunshine State is still a tossup.
In most polls, presidential candidate Joe Biden is leading slightly.
