But beset by natural disasters, alleged bombmakers, and a race-inflected campaign, Florida is at risk of becoming a problem for Republicans that could have implications that reach far beyond the election taking place in seven days.

In both high-profile races, for governor and for U.S. Senate, Democrats have maintained a narrow lead. Between Trump’s visits — first on Wednesday for a rally in Fort Myers, and then on Saturday in Pensacola — former president Barack Obama will stump in Miami on Friday, trying to pull out the young and minority voters Democratic candidates need.

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In what amounts to a test run for the 2020 campaign, both parties are pouring money into the state and testing the strength of Trump’s standing in a place that he won in 2016 by just 1.2 percentage points. But with the president saddled with a low approval rating — a Gallup survey on Monday saw a net rating decrease of eight points over the past week — Trump’s last-minute push in Florida could prove to be a gamble.

The already heightened atmosphere has only grown more tense in the days after Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Plantation, Fla., and charged with sending pipe bombs to more than a dozen Democrats who have been repeatedly targeted for criticism by Trump.

“The tonal quality of it is one more reminder to those suburban Republican women why they left the Republican Party,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Florida-based GOP consultant and a Trump critic. The danger for Republicans is that recent events remind those voters, he said, that “they don’t want to be associated with the crazies and the people Donald Trump inspires to do things like this.”

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The slash-and-burn tenor of the gubernatorial race, which has had racial overtones since the start, was further amplified on Monday morning when Trump tweeted about the two candidates.

Former congressman Ron DeSantis, he wrote, is “a Harvard/Yale educated man . . . who will be a great Governor,” while Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum is “a thief who is Mayor of poorly run Tallahassee, said to be one of the most corrupt cities in the Country!”

When asked about the justification for calling Gillum a “thief,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters, “That individual’s under FBI investigation. I would refer you to that.”

The FBI has been investigating a redevelopment agency in Tallahassee, but Gillum has repeatedly said that he did nothing wrong and that the FBI told him in June 2017 that he was not a focus of its investigation.

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Responding on Twitter, Gillum said that Trump was “howling because he’s weak.” He also questioned Trump’s “courage” because he did not include Gillum’s Twitter handle in his tweet.

Gillum has been under scrutiny for accepting a ticket from an undercover FBI agent for the Broadway show “Hamilton” in New York. Gillum has said that his brother obtained the ticket and “the idea that I accepted a gift never came to me.” Text messages released last week, however, found that Gillum was aware the tickets came from a man who had been posing as a developer.

Throughout the campaign, DeSantis has embraced Trump and his tactics — in hopes of having Trump’s voters embrace him. In July, DeSantis ran an ad in which he teaches his young daughter to “build the wall” with toy blocks and reads “Art of the Deal” to his infant son. And his campaign since then has been almost identical to the one Trump ran. He has pilloried his opponent for alleged ethical lapses, and says that he will be the one to clean up a corrupt capital.

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Much as Trump’s crowds have been chanting “Lock her up!” against Hillary Clinton since the 2016 campaign, DeSantis’s crowds have been aiming chants of “Lock him up!” at Gillum.

On Monday during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily, he charged that Gillum is “knee-deep in corruption.”

“This is a guy who has consistently used public office to feather his own nest,” DeSantis alleged.

DeSantis also has been stoking the notion that Jewish philanthropist George Soros is attempting to infiltrate Florida state government. Soros, a longtime target of Trump and other Republicans, last week was the recipient of a pipe bomb sent to the Democratic donor’s home in Upstate New York.

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Gillum “could be seeding, into our state government, you know, Soros-backed activists,” DeSantis said on Friday, according to a video posted by the Daily Beast. “We can’t let that happen.”

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The Democratic nominee is hoping to become Florida’s first black governor, and an appearance with the nation’s first black president on Friday could help energize black voters in the state. He is also seeking to be the first Democrat to win a gubernatorial race in 20 years.

He has forcefully brushed back against DeSantis’s insinuations, and pushed a far more liberal set of policy positions than have other recent Florida candidates, who have hewed to the center to maximize the pool of voters available to them.

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Among other things, Gillum has proudly campaigned on an agenda of gun control measures, the impeachment of Trump, and higher corporate taxes.

Gillum appears to have made the calculation that the energy prompted by his historic run, and the liberal anti-Trump cant to the swarms of Democratic activists this year, will serve to energize enough voters to offset any losses in the middle.

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“The most interesting thing about this election in Florida to me so far is how unapologetic the candidates are about being what in the past would be called extremist,” said Mac Stipanovich, a Florida-based Republican consultant and lobbyist. “Obviously that’s true of DeSantis and the Trump folks. But for the first time in my memory it’s also true of the Democrats.”

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Early voting has been off to a brisk start, with some analysts suggesting that Florida could see its biggest midterm turnout in history. Republicans have a narrow edge, casting 42 percent of the ballots compared with 40 percent cast by Democrats. About 17 percent of the ballots have come from independents.

“I feel better about where my side is today than I did last week, but I don’t feel great,” Steve Schale, a Democratic consultant, wrote Monday morning in an analysis of early voting. “This still feels closer than the polls.”

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The Senate race has been more low key than the gubernatorial race, partly because its main candidates are less charismatic figures. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is challenging Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson in a race that has been rated as a toss-up, although Nelson has crept ahead in several recent polls.

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While DeSantis has hugged Trump as closely as possible, Scott has generally kept the president at arm’s length.

“DeSantis doesn’t care. He’s in demolition derby mode,” Wilson said. “Scott has run like a scolded dog from Donald Trump.”

Still, Scott is planning to appear with the president at Wednesday’s rally, ensuring that whatever happens on Election Day will have potentially lasting implications for Trump. The president has long considered the state a second home — his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach is a regular destination — and it also is key to his reelection in 2020.