Livestream: Biden, Trump Plan Last-Minute Rallies In Tampa

TAMPA BAY, FL — With less than a week until Election Day, both presidential nominees have decided to make spur-of-the-moment visits to the nation's battleground state in the hopes of swaying Florida's undecided swing voters.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will visit Florida Thursday. His campaign said he plans to visit Broward County around 1:30 p.m. and Tampa around 6:30 p.m., although locations and exact times haven't been announced. Biden livestreams his events here.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s campaign will host a rally Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Ticket holders will be admitted starting at 10:30 a.m. Raymond James Stadium is an early-voting site in Hillsborough County. People can get tickets to the Trump rally here or watch a livestream of the event here.

The attention on Florida underscores the importance of the state on this year's presidential election.

Florida holds 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, and political polls suggest Florida could be decided by as little as 1 or 2 percentage points.

In 2012, Florida was the only state decided by less than 1 percent with Barack Obama winning over Mitt Romney, 50 percent to 49.1 percent. The 2016 election saw another close race in Florida with Donald Trump edging out Hillary Clinton by 1.2 percent.

Since then, more than 130,000 Puerto Ricans fled the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017, and tens of thousands settled in Central Florida.

According to the Florida Secretary of State's Office, there were about 107,600 newly registered Hispanic voters in 2019. A majority — 46 percent — were registered as with no party affiliation, while 33 percent registered as Democrats and 18 percent as Republicans.

The impact those new Floridians will have on the election is yet to be seen.

As of Wednesday, 49.20 percent of registered Florida voters have cast ballots by mail or at early-voting sites.

Biden leads Trump by just 1 percentage point in Florida, according to a University of North Florida poll released Oct. 20, making the race in Florida essentially a toss-up.

"This is Florida, and elections are never easy here; I expect this race to come down to the wire," said Michael Binder, the director of UNF's Public Opinion Research Lab.

“While some polls have shown Biden with a big lead in Florida and other key states, we made an effort to capture hard-to-reach voters, and our results suggest that it might be a long night on November 3rd,” said Binder.

Livestream Trump's visit here.

Livestream Biden's visit here.