DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both arrived in South Florida, and they will attend separate events throughout the day to garner support and funds in an important swing state.
Pence spoke at an event at the Memorial Cubano at Tamiami Park in West Miami-Dade just after 12:30 p.m.
“We will not lift sanctions until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected and political parties are legalized with free elections for all the people of Cuba,” Pence said. “I promise you: four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House, it will always be ‘Que viva Cuba libre.‘”
With the election less than three weeks away, both the president and vice president are in town to secure votes that are crucial to their chance at reelection. Pence flew into Miami International Airport ahead of the president, as the Trump campaign works to gain support and cash in the critical swing state.
Trump landed at MIA just before 5 p.m. to a cheering crowd of supporters. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez was among the politicians that welcomed the president to South Florida as he stepped off Air Force One.
After the event at Tamiami Park concluded, the vice president made an appearance at a Faith in America roundtable event with Jewish leaders at the InterContinental at Doral Miami.
“It’s a special honor for me to serve alongside a president who has been a true champion of the Jewish people in America and a champion of the Jewish faith, as well,” Pence said.
He has since arrived at the president’s property in Doral to attend a fundraiser alongside Trump.
Some of the president’s supporters could also be seen standing in front of Trump National Doral ahead of the president’s arrival. Tickets for the event ranged from $5,000 to $100,000.
Ahead of his arrival to South Florida, the president attended a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, where he spoke to supporters.
“If Biden is elected, the United States will be owned by China,” Trump said at the rally.
After the fundraiser, the president will head to the Perez Art Museum for an open-air town hall event hosted by NBC, which begins at 8 p.m.
Thursday night was supposed to be the second debate for Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but after the Commission on Presidential Debates decided on a virtual format amid COVID-19 concerns, the president declined to participate.
“That’s not what debating is all about,” Trump said on Fox News. “You sit behind a computer and do a debate. It’s ridiculous.”
The candidates are expected to participate in separate town hall meetings instead.
The vice president is expected to try to reach out to Venezuelan voters and focus on how the United States was the first to formally recognize Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.
“We want to support President Trump,” supporter Emilio Vazquez Sr. said. “The key is that the Latin-American community in South Florida, we are united.”
He may also bring up the unemployment rate in the U.S. and jobs.
“We have to look for our economy, because we live here in the U.S., and we need the best for this country,” another supporter said.
“I think that the politicians, career politicians, have really come away from what is really happening on the ground,” said Annita Weller. “They have a very small, they only see a small vignette of what life is like for everybody else out there.”
Eric Trump, the president’s son, was also in South Florida on Thursday attending an Evangelicals for Trump event in Southwest Ranches.
“We will always celebrate red, white and blue,” he said. “We will always cherish the American flag. We will always say the Pledge of Allegiance. We will always stand up for the national anthem, and guys, we will keep America great. We will keep America great.”
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