DORAL, Fla. – A day before announcing his Supreme Court nominee, President Donald Trump was in South Florida, holding a roundtable Friday with Latinos for Trump as he campaigns in the critical swing state.
Trump made the case that he’s a better candidate for the Hispanic community than Democratic nominee Joe Biden, touching on the economy, school choice and safety, among other topics.
“Joe Biden betrayed Hispanic Americans and I’m fighting for you,” Trump said at his Doral resort, repeating his claim that he has done more for that population in 47 months than the former vice president has done in 47 years in politics.
Watch a replay of the roundtable here:
TRUMP SPEAKS IN SOUTH FLORIDAWATCH LIVE: President Donald Trump is meeting with Latino supporters in South Florida as he campaigns for votes in the critical swing state
Posted by WPLG Local 10 on Friday, September 25, 2020
Eight invited panelists, each an entrepreneur who immigrated from a Latin American or Caribbean country, praised Trump for cutting taxes and business regulations, and for helping them achieve their American dream.
An audience of more than 150 people was in attendance in the hotel ballroom, where less than half the people were wearing face coverings, according to a pool report.
Multiple times, Trump called out into the crowd to praise Jorge Masvidal, the Miami-born mixed martial arts star.
Outside, groups of Trump supporters and Biden supporters were gathered, with police working to keep them apart.
An NBC-Marist poll of Florida voters released earlier this month found Latinos in the state about evenly divided between Biden and Trump — a major change from the same poll in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton led Trump by a 59% to 36% margin.
The latest polling from Bendixen & Amandi has Trump favored slightly over Biden — 47% to 46% — among Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County.
“Everything that you want for the president, that’s what he is,” Teresita Miranda said outside the event. “I’m a Cuban-American, and I’m proud of him.”
“I guarantee you that Trump will win Florida in a landslide,” added fellow Trump supporter Willie Guardiola.
Trump arrived at Trump National Doral on Thursday night after an open-air rally at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville that was attended by about 15,000 people, most of whom stood shoulder-to-shoulder and largely eschewed masks. There, he praised the job Gov. Ron DeSantis has done in lowering the coronavirus infection rate in the state.
The two-day trip to Florida is aimed at locking in Republican voters, and particularly targeting Cuban-American voters.
Trump met with Bay of Pigs veterans at the White House on Wednesday. He also told Fox News on Monday that he was considering choosing a Cuban-American judge, Barbara Lagoa, to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacancy.
Trump plans to make his announcement on a Supreme Court nomination Saturday evening from back in Washington.
After the Latinos for Trump roundtable in Doral, the president was bound for events in Atlanta and Virginia later Friday.