Jill Biden visits El Paso for early voting start amid tight presidential race in Texas

EL PASO, Texas -- As the latest poll in Texas shows the presidential race tight, Democratic nominee Joe Biden sent his wife to the Lone Star state to campaign on the first day of early voting.

As the first ballots were being cast on Tuesday, Jill Biden visited El Paso along with two other Texas cities, Houston and Dallas.

Jill Biden's appearance in El Paso was during a get out the vote rally at UTEP’s Centennial Plaza.

"For the first time in a long time, winning Texas is possible," she proclaimed to the small, socially-distanced UTEP crowd wearing masks. (You can watch her entire remarks in the video player at the bottom of this article.)

The Texas campaign swing by Biden's wife comes as a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released late last week shows President Donald Trump leading Joe Biden by just five points in the Lone Star state.

The president garners 50% of the state’s likely voters, compared to Biden’s 45%, the poll showed.

Daron Shaw, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the poll, said what the poll result "really shows you is just how much of this is about Trump. The race is a marker for attitudes towards Trump. It really is a referendum.”

(The Texas Tribune contributed to this report.)