With less than a week to go before Election Day, President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden are both holding rallies on the same day in Tampa.
Both campaigns are attempting to sway voters still holding on to mail-in ballots, planning to vote early or on Election Day.
President Trump took the stage around 1:45 p.m. in the north parking lot of Raymond James Stadium. Highlights from his rally are posted below.
Joe Biden will host a 6 p.m. drive-in rally. Its location is being disclosed only to supporters and members of the media who will be in attendance. The Biden campaign says it's a formula designed to limit the number of people at the rally to ensure proper social distancing.
What You Need To Know
President Trump's Tampa Rally
First Lady Melania Trump introduced the president at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. She called attention to her husband's historic peace deals in the Middle East and touted his decision to move America's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Then, President Trump took the stage and swiftly predicted he would win Florida, paving the way for another four years in the White House.
The president praised Governor Ron DeSantis, telling the crowd, “He’s a great governor. You have a great governor. He’s a great guy.”
He focused in on the day's economic news – a 33.1% growth in GDP – then transitioned into a pledge never again to shut down the country because of COVID.
“We’re never gonna lock down again," he said.
President Trump repeated his accusation that Joe Biden is "paid off" by China, and brought up the former VP's son, Hunter. The crowd chanted, "Where's Hunter?" and "Lock him up!"
He later emphasized his support among law enforcement.
“You have great sheriffs. We got endorsed by the sheriff’s – all law enforcement all over Florida,” President Trump told the crowd outside Raymond James Stadium.
He then turned that on his opponent.
“Joe Biden couldn’t name one law enforcement agency who endorses him, then Chris Wallace saved him,” the president said, referencing the first debate.
President Trump repeated his promise of a vaccine being released in the next few weeks and discussed the first family’s personal experience with COVID-19.
He then made a string of promises aimed directly at his Conservative base.
“We will fight for American workers. We will defend our second amendment… support our police, protect our borders, defend school choice, ensure more products are stamped with…made in the USA.”
After the rally, Trump postponed his North Carolina rally to Monday due to inclement weather.
Florida Remains Key
The campaign stops are part of both candidates's last-week push for voters in all-important Florida before the general election November 3.
The tightening presidential race suggests that the nation's largest swing state likely will again be decided by a percentage point or two.
In recent days, former President Barack Obama did the same Tuesday in Democrat-rich Orlando for his former vice president, while Senior Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump stumped for her father in Republican-dominated Sarasota.
Florida, with 29 electoral votes, is a must-win state for Trump to have a realistic chance of being reelected. He carried the state by 113,000 votes over Hillary Clinton in 2016, a margin of 1.2 percentage points.
A recent FiveThirtyEight polling average shows Biden with a slight lead over Trump.
Early voting statistics show the race is tightening, as expected. Through Monday, Florida Democrats had cast almost 300,000 more ballots than Republicans, but that advantage, built through mail-in voting, is narrowing as more Republicans vote in person. Mail-in voting began a month ago, and walk-in early voting started last week.
Overall, over 2.8 million Democrats have voted compared with nearly 2.6 million Republicans. The gap peaked October 21, when the Democrats were almost 490,000 ballots ahead, but it has slowly declined each day since then. Two-thirds of Democratic votes have been cast by mail, compared with about half of Republican ballots.
In addition, nearly 1.4 million ballots have been cast by those with no party affiliation.
Nearly 7 million ballots have been cast in Florida as of Oct. 29, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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