Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will hold a rally in Lakeland, Florida this afternoon, his second of two events in the state on Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s event will take place at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It can be viewed in the embedded YouTube player via Right Side Broadcasting.
The Trump campaign is spending much of this week targeting Florida, holding four rallies in the state between Tuesday and Thursday. They clearly recognize the importance of the Sunshine State, which is worth 29 electoral votes and which Donald Trump absolutely needs to win in order to be elected president. Barack Obama won Florida in 2012 and 2008, but before that, George W. Bush won it in both of his presidential elections.
Hillary Clinton recently paid a visit to Florida as well, joined by former presidential candidate Al Gore. In Real Clear Politics’ polling average, Hillary Clinton is currently ahead of Donald Trump by 2.9 points in Florida, and FiveThirtyEight currently forecasts that Clinton has a 73.8 percent chance of winning the state in November.
Trump will be speaking this week in the midst of a GOP civil war, with John McCain and House Speaker Paul Ryan recently dialing back their support for their party’s nominee. In response, Trump has been attacking both McCain and Ryan on Twitter and in interviews, accusing Ryan of being ineffective and weak and implying that Ryan will lose his job as speaker if Trump is elected president.
The Republican nominee will once again visit Florida on Thursday, when he will hold a rally in West Palm Beach. He will then head to Ohio, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.