COCONUT CREEK, Fla. — Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden is turning up the heat in Florida, making a series of campaign appearances across the Sunshine State on Thursday with just days until the presidential elections.

Florida has emerged as one of this year’s most closely-watched races during the presidential election, with many wondering if Biden will be able to clinch enough votes to flip the state from red to blue.

The former vice president began his day in the heavily blue Broward County, which – along with neighboring counties of Miami-Dade and Palm Beach – voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections. Clinton ultimately lost the state to Trump by just over 112,000 votes.

Biden was introduced by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver, who was 17 years old when he was shot and killed on Feb. 14, 2018 in nearby Parkland at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a mass shooting.

“He told us to find purpose in life and that was probably the best advice that I could get from a leader,” Manuel Oliver said of meeting Biden. “Find a reason to get up every morning and do something to prevent this from happening again.” 

Oliver, himself an immigrant from Venezuela, said in part: “We are showing today, between other things, that Venezuelans support Joe Biden. And I want to make that very clear.”

Biden diverged slightly from his usual campaign talking points of unity, health care, and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic to directly address the state’s immigrant population. As of 2018, over half of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States resided in Florida, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.

The former vice president used the opportunity to hammer Trump for his foreign policy, accusing the president of cozying up to dictators.

“President Trump can’t advance democracy and human rights for the Cuban people – or the Venezuelan people, for that matter – when he has embraced so many autocrats around the world,” Biden said, adding: “Trump is the worst possible standard-bearer for democracy.”

“For my entire career I have stood for democracy, for human rights, for freedom of the press, for assembly, for freedom of religion,” Biden added. “And against dictators whether they are left or right.”

Biden also acknowledged the need to win Florida's 29 electoral college votes during his first stop, telling the audience: "The heart and soul of this country’s at stake right here in Florida. You hold the key. If Florida goes blue, it’s over.”

Speaking after his event, Biden talked to a small gaggle of reporters about the importance of investing in the Latino population.

"It's our future. It's our future," he said, "and we should invest in the future. And the better the community does, the better the country does." 

Recent polls show Biden leading Trump among Latino voters in Florida – from Telemundo, Quinnipiac, and Monmouth – though an NBC News / Marist poll shows Biden trailing Trump with that key bloc.

He also told reporters that, "Florida can decide this right out of the box. Right out of the box. If we win Florida it's game time, and it's over, it's over. We feel good, working like the devil."

Following his early afternoon event in Coconut Creek, the former vice president is traveling to Tampa to hold a campaign rally – right on the heels of President Trump’s own visit to the city. 

Biden criticized his opponent’s Tampa rally as a “super-spreader event,” saying the president is spreading both “division and discord” throughout the state.

If nothing else, the candidates' Florida events most certainly highlighted their widely differing stances on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. 

Biden opted not to disclose the location of his Thursday night event in Tampa to people other than his supporters and the media in order to limit the amount of people and promote social distancing.

Trump, on the other hand, has continued to deliver his signature hourlong-plus speeches to crowds of thousands of people, many of whom do not wear masks. During his own trip to Tampa, Trump spoke to a massive group of people waiting outside of Raymond James Stadium. 

Both the president and first lady Melania Trump, who joined her husband on the campaign trail for the first time this year on Thursday, downplayed the threat of the virus.

She used her few minutes in the spotlight to echo her husband’s push to downplay the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 228,000 Americans. She predicted that that the nation will soon “overcome this pandemic and continue building the brightest future for generations to come.”

Hours later, across town, Joe Biden arrived at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa for his drive-in rally. But, about 15 minutes into his speech, it began to pour. Biden id not return to the stage when the rain stopped.

Members of the audience take cover as a sudden downpour cuts short a rally for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

During his short time at the microphone, Biden responded to Trump's claims that he would bring back strict coronavirus restrictions and send the economy into a depression.

"I'm not going to shut down the economy. I'm not gonna shut down the country. I'm gonna shut down the virus," he said.

His main message to all those listening in person and virtually? Vote.

"I believe when you use your power, the power of the vote, we literally are going to change the course of this country for generations to come."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.