Clinton, Trump campaign in Florida on second day of early voting

Trump appears in Miami, Doral; Clinton stops in Coconut Creek

MIAMI – Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are campaigning Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida.

Trump appeared Tuesday morning at his golf resort in Doral before heading north for rallies in Sanford and Tallahassee.

"We have thousands of people that are happy working here," the Republican candidate said at Trump National Doral Miami.

Trump touted his ability to create jobs, "just like this."

He then met with Cuban supporters at a breakfast roundtable. He also spoke at the Bay of Pigs Museum in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

Local 10 News reporter Andrew Perez spoke to Trump, who again expressed his distaste for how the media has portrayed him during the election.

"Oh the media has been ridiculous. Everybody knows that," he said. "They actually admit it. Without the media, Hillary Clinton would be nowhere. I mean, they have protected. They've saved her."

"Did the media help build your brand as well," Perez asked.

"Well, I think that it was built in a much different way," Trump said. "First of all, I built a great company. I built one of the great companies."

Trump said he wants a fair election, but believes that the system is rigged.

"First of all, the fact that she's even able to run -- she deleted 33,000 emails, which is against the law," Trump said.

Trump declined to say whether he would legally challenge the outcome if he loses the election.

"Well, I'm not even going to talk about that. We'll see what happens," Trump said.

Meanwhile, Clinton spoke at a rally in Coconut Creek. She criticized Trump's campaign and lobbied on behalf of U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who introduced her to the crowd.

Clinton is also scheduled to make appearances Wednesday in Lake Worth and Tampa.

Tuesday marks the second day of early in-person voting. Early voting by mail began two weeks ago.

New numbers released Tuesday by the state Division of Elections show nearly 300,000 voters went to early voting sites on the first day it was offered in 50 counties. Another 1.3 million voters sent in their ballots by mail.

Traditionally, Republicans have run up a large advantage in mail-in-ballots, while Democrats rely on early voting to boost their turnout numbers. But this year the Democrats and Republicans are running early even. So far, slightly more than 665,000 Republican voters have cast ballots in the state, compared to slightly more than 658,000 Democrats.

Another 300,000 voters with no party affiliation have also voted.


About the Authors:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.

Andrew Perez is a South Florida native who joined the Local 10 News team in May 2014.