Mike Pence plans Tallahassee, Jacksonville weekend visits

Vice President Mike Pence is headed to Tallahassee and Jacksonville this upcoming weekend.

Pence’s communications director, Katie Miller, confirmed the Saturday show-ups in an agenda-setting tweet Monday, listing the event in North Florida as part of a larger itinerary of twelve stops in seven days.

Pence’s visit is the latest evidence, if any more were needed, of Florida’s pivotal position in the presidential race.

In his return to the campaign trail last week, President Donald Trump held rallies in Sanford and Ocala, large scale events in which the President looked to overcome structural and resource advantages for the Democratic ticket by re-enacting the rally energy and scenes of 2016.

Trump’s namesake son, Donald J. Trump Jr., likewise has been a frequent speaker in the Sunshine State, with a “Fighters Against Socialism” bus tour earlier this month with UFC Fighter Jorge Masvidal, megadonor Maximo Alvarez, and Sen. Marco Rubio on hand at various times.

Since July, the visit will be the Vice President’s first to North Florida when he showed up to “thank” people involved in planning the ultimately scuttled Republican National Convention events in Jacksonville.

Though candidate Joe Biden has not made a stop north of I-4 during the General Election campaign, the campaign has made some aggressive and high-profile plays.

Last weekend, former Georgia Democratic candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams held three events in Jacksonville.

On Sunday night, House Majority Whip James Clyburn participated in a call intended to mobilize support from “rural” voters in North Florida, which included local talents such as U.S. Rep. Al Lawson state Rep. Ramon Alexander.

And on Monday, Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a U.S. Senator from California, is slated to visit Jacksonville as part of a two-city Florida swing. Harris, however, is visiting Orlando in her second stop rather than Tallahassee.