Trump and Pence will visit South Florida on Thursday
Thursday was supposed to be the day that President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden met in Miami for the second presidential debate.
Instead, it will be the day the Trump campaign blankets Miami.
With the Oct. 15 debate canceled over a logistical dispute, Trump’s campaign announced Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence will hold two Miami-area events on that date. Pence is scheduled to hold a midmorning campaign rally at the Memorial Cubano in Tamiami Park near Florida International University’s West Miami-Dade campus. Pence will also hold a faithbased campaign event at the Lubavitch Educational Center in North MiamiDade.
Pence won’t be in South Florida alone.
Trump is also heading to Miami-Dade County Thursday evening, according to Miami Beach Police. The department issued an advisory on Twitter Tuesday announcing that a visit by the president outside of the city would force the closure of the MacArthur Causeway from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Trump has not yet announced an event in Miami. Neither the White House nor the Trump campaign would confirm the president’s visit to Miami.
Trump was scheduled to debate Biden on Thursday night at the Adrienne Arsht
Center for the Performing Arts until his COVID-19 diagnosis announced on Oct. 2 led the Commission on Presidential Debates to announce that it would hold the event virtually.
Trump balked at the plan, prompting Biden to quickly agree to hold a town hall that night with ABC in Philadelphia. The debate commission ultimately canceled the Miami event.
Trump’s physician has issued memos in recent days stating that the president has tested negative for COVID-19 and is no longer contagious.
The Trump campaign’s visits come during the heat of mail voting in Florida, and just a few days before in-person early voting begins Monday. Trump held a rally in Central Florida on Monday and has another scheduled for Friday in Ocala.
Also Thursday, the president’s son, Eric Trump, is scheduled to attend the Segadores de Vida megachurch in Southwest Ranches in Broward County.