TAMPA, Florida — President Trump and Joe Biden held dueling campaign rallies in tumultuous conditions in the same city in must-win Florida with starkly different events just five days before the Tuesday election.
Both candidates are eyeing the Sunshine State’s 29 electoral votes. For Trump, a Florida resident after a lifetime in New York, Florida is crucial in being able to stitch together at least 270 Electoral College votes needed for a second term. Biden doesn’t have to win Florida to claim the presidency, but a victory there early on election night would effectively deliver a knockout blow to the Trump campaign.
On Thursday, Trump held one of his typical crowded, thousands-strong rallies with overwhelmingly maskless supporters, despite saying in his speech that “we social distance” due to COVIID-19 and “if you get close, wear a mask.”
Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee and former vice president, had a drive-in, invite-only rally that was capped at 300 cars, in part to maintain social distancing due to the coronavirus — much to the disappointment of some supporters who spent 45 minutes or more in line trying to get in or drove hours to be there.
Mother Nature, though, overwhelmed each of the Tampa events: Trump’s crowded rally with muggy Florida heat and Biden’s with rain that cut his speech short.
In 87-degree heat and 71% humidity with the midday sun shining down and little shade, thousands of overwhelmingly maskless Trump supporters stood for hours in a grassy area by Raymond James Stadium to hear the president and, with him, for the first time on the campaign trail, first lady Melania Trump. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other local officials spoke as well.
Event organizers rushed to provide as many water bottles as they could to heat-stricken attendees. Though it did not interrupt the event, emergency medical services were called to assist those in the crowd multiple times, and one man was removed on a stretcher. A fire truck in the back of the field, many yards from the main crowd, sprayed water up into the air to create a cooling mist.
By the end of Trump’s hour and a half speech, the once-packed field had emptied out considerably in the back, the heat being too much for many attendees.
In the evening at the Florida State Fairgrounds, Biden held a capped-attendance, drive-in rally, his campaign’s creative way to organize an event with several hundred people while still maintaining social distancing measures. That makes it impossible to measure one campaign rally against another directly, but Trump tried to anyway.
“With Biden, they never mention it either. I said, ‘Show the crowd.’ You know what? They have circles,” Trump said, referencing large white circles that the Biden campaign puts around press chairs to keep people 6 feet away from each other. “Someday, I’m going to hire the guy that does those circles. No, because it’s really good. Big, thick, nice circles.”
Trump supporters who gathered outside to counter Biden’s event on the side of a busy highway balked at the decision to turn away people who had waited so long to get in. James Worley, 52, called the move “really sad.”
Many of the Biden supporters who got turned away at the state fairground gate, and instead created their own roadside rally across the street from Trump supporters, accepted the rule.
“I understand the whole COVID situation, you know, we got to keep COVID under control and social distancing and all that stuff,” said Christine Dasilva of Tampa, 38, who owns an auto glass company. “I was not mad at all.”
But not all the Biden fans agreed.
“I just traveled an hour and a half, and the park, it’s empty. We’re in our cars, how could they shut it off?” said Angie Lucido, 69, a nurse in Sarasota.
Lucido claimed that the police officer who turned her away said that Vice President Mike Pence had sent down orders to cap the number of cars at 250.
“I’m upset for the lack of continuity and fairness,” Lucido said. “Trump’s people could attend his rally in massive numbers, but they cut the numbers off here when we’re safer in a gathering because we’re in cars.”
The event turned out to be a bit of a dud for those who got in, too, as the rain cut Biden’s stump speech short.
“Let’s not postpone and get out of the rain!” Biden said as he ran off the stage after speaking for 19 minutes.
On Monday, Biden announced that he would be going to Tampa first. Two days later, the Trump campaign said that he would hold a rally there the same day. The perpetual swing state is as close as ever in the election’s final days, with the RealClearPolitics average showing Biden with a narrow 1.4% edge over Trump.
Tampa’s Hillsborough County voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 8 points over Trump in 2016, with 51% of the voters choosing Clinton.
