With election day quickly approaching, both the Republican and Democratic parties are bringing out key players to campaign ahead of November 3.
One of the crucial states they are focusing on is Florida.
Saturday, former President Barack Obama was in the Sunshine State for a drive-in rally in Miami representing Joe Biden.
Just hours later and a little farther north, Vice President Mike Pence rallied in Lakeland on behalf of President Trump.
The topics were similar to those we've heard in the debates, the economy, the COVID-19 crisis, healthcare, and race in America.
Vice President Pence spent a good portion of his rally touting America's economy going into the pandemic.
“Businesses large and small created 7 million good paying jobs in just 3 years, including 550,000 jobs right here in the Sunshine State,” said Vice President Pence.
Meanwhile, former President Obama affirmed it was his administration that started America's comeback following the Great Recession.
“Unemployment was steadily going down during the Obama Biden presidency, and then he gets elected and it keeps going down and suddenly he says, 'look what I did,” said President Obama.
The former president criticized the Trump Administration for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Eight months into this pandemic, new cases are breaking records. Donald Trump isn’t going to suddenly protect all of us," said President Obama.
But the vice president assured supporters that President Trump did everything he could to protect the American people.
“We reinvented testing. We saw to the manufacture and distribution of literally billions of supplies for our doctors and nurses and healthcare workers,” said Vice President Pence.
Healthcare was another hot topic. The former president stood behind his own Obamacare.
“It protected everybody. It protected folks who already had insurance, it protected folks who might have to buy health insurance in the future,“ said President Obama.
Vice President Pence, however, criticized the former administration's healthcare plan and touted the Trump Administration's healthcare strides.
“We got rid of the individual mandate, we’ve been fighting to lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government, we lowered the cost of prescription drugs,” said Vice President Pence.
When addressing the topic of race in America, the answers were split.
“Joe Biden explains it all by saying he thinks that America is quote systemically racist,” said Vice President Pence.
President Obama said, “Joining together to declare in the face of injustice, and brutality, that Black Lives Matter. No more but no less. To proclaim that no child in this country should ever feel the continuing sting of racism."
But one thing both campaigns seemed to agree on is that they need your vote. Both the vice president and the former president urged all in attendance to vote, and encourage friends and family to vote, too.
The latest polling data from Florida shows the race is very close, with a Rasmussen poll showing Trump up by four points, and St. Pete Polls showing Biden up by two points.
You can watch Former President Barack Obama's drive-in rally here:
You can watch Vice President Pence's rally here:
