TAMPA, Fla. -- Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday and held a roundtable with veterans in which he tore into President Donald Trump for reported remarks criticizing the military. He heads to Kissimmee, near Orlando, later to mark Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the state's Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Hispanic voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago.
But Democrats aren't taking chances. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to spend at least $100 million to defeat Trump in Florida.
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And by spending his day along the Interstate 4 corridor, Biden is devoting time to one of the most critical regions of the state. While Republicans typically post big numbers in the northern and southwestern parts of the state and Democrats are strong in coastal cities, campaigns typically battle it out for every vote in central Florida.
The veterans event was aimed at pushing a potential opening with military voters, who broadly supported Trump in 2016 but are seen as potentially persuadable because of contentious remarks the president reportedly made mocking American war dead as "losers" and "suckers." Trump has denied making the remarks, first reported through anonymous sources by The Atlantic.
"Nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive, to me at least, than when it comes to his denigration of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors who have fallen," Biden said. Speaking of his late son Beau, who served overseas as a Delaware Army National Guard member and later died from a brain tumor, the former vice president said, "He's gone now, but he's no sucker."
Biden spoke about his experience as vice president escorting military caskets home and working on military issues, and about his own commitments to strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs and tackle the mental health crisis among veterans. And he attacked Trump for what he said were failed promises to veterans.
"President Trump likes to say he passed VA Choice, but just like everything else he seems to say, it's a figment of his imagination or a flat-out lie," he said, referencing a program passed under the Obama administration that steers more patients to the private sector.
Biden's decision to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Kissimmee reflects a focus on the state's rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. Many Puerto Ricans relocated to Florida after Hurricane Maria devastated the island and U.S. territory in 2017.
The campaign announced a new plan Tuesday focused on boosting Puerto Rico's economy and helping the island continue to recover from Maria. Biden would create a federal working group focused on aiding Puerto Rico in rebuilding and would forgive disaster relief loans to Puerto Rican towns, expand a food stamp program to residents of the island, invest in Puerto Rico's power and schooling infrastructure and health care services, and help alleviate the territory's huge debt load.
Biden has not, however, taken a stance on whether Puerto Rico should be given statehood.
Puerto Ricans may be more open to Biden than Cuban Americans concentrated in Miami, who are attuned to Trump's message that the Democratic ticket would embrace socialism.
Indeed, surrogates for the Trump campaign focused on Cuban immigrants during a call with reporters.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, a Republican, accused Biden of trying to "feign interest in the Hispanic community" after "neglecting us."
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She said a Biden presidency would, among other things, appease and enrich Cuba's leadership at the expense of the people. Some foreign policy analysts, however, say the Trump administration's tough economic restrictions on Cuba only contribute to the oppression of the Cuban people.
Biden, who hasn't been to Florida since October, has struggled with Hispanics in part because of the record-setting number of deportations when former President Barack Obama was in the White House. Biden has apologized for that policy.
As for Trump, Hispanic voters have responded positively to the president's embrace of religious conservative positions and his warnings of protest-related violence and socialism.
