Supporters cheer as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Burlington Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Scott Morgan(from Vs s iz Neias) – Floridians know Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio very well — but Donald Trump is outpacing both in the state’s early opinion polls.
He is hoping to maintain that advantage with a heavy investment in the state beginning Friday, when he arrives for a two-day swing — his first as a presidential candidate — with rallies planned in Miami on Friday evening, not far from Bush’s sprawling campaign headquarters, and in Jacksonville on Saturday.
Florida holds its winner-take-all primary March 15. Trump with a brought on a Florida state campaign director and a Sarasota office is ahead of most his rivals. Bush’s campaign headquarters are in Miami and he’s opened field offices in Miami and Tampa. Rubio’s campaign headquarters are in Washington; he has field offices in early primary states but none so far in Florida.
Trump’s campaign also announced Friday that Joe Gruters, the vice chair of the Florida Republican Party, will serve as his Florida campaign chair, while Susan Wiles, who managed Gov. Rick Scott’s winning 2010 campaign, will serve as co-chair.