The News
Kamala Harris’ campaign is encouraging Latino Democrats to keep voters focused on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s derisive remarks about Puerto Rico during Sunday night’s Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden.
Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” and made a crass crack about Latinos who “love making babies” during an appearance at the Trump rally — prompting criticism from multiple Republicans, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott and New York Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. While the comedian pushed back that his critics “have no sense of humor,” the Trump campaign issued a statement distancing itself from his commentary.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ chair, California Rep. Nanette Barragan, issued a statement quipping that “the only garbage I saw yesterday was on that racist rally stage in Madison Square Garden.”
New York Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez are following up Monday with a press appearance in the diverse neighborhood of East Harlem to condemn the Trump rally’s “racist and anti-American” rhetoric. A source close to the Harris campaign confirmed it’s urging Latino Democrats to keep speaking out about the Trump rally.
The mobilization by Latino Democrats signals that the party sees Hinchcliffe’s remarks potentially breaking through with undecided voters in the final week before the election, as Trump and Kamala Harris are neck and neck in most polls. Harris’ campaign amplified the contrast between her own release of a specific plan to assist Puerto Rico hours before the Trump rally.
Harris also visited a Puerto Rican restaurant Sunday during multiple stops in Philadelphia.
In addition to more than 1 million Puerto Ricans in New York, where Democrats are battling for several battleground congressional seats, the swing state of Pennsylvania counts nearly half a million Puerto Rican residents. Georgia, which Harris and Trump are also vying for, counts nearly half a million Latino residents, nearly one-fifth of whom are Puerto Rican, according to UCLA’s Latino Politics & Policy Institute.
“The racist comments at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City were a slap in the face to millions of Puerto Ricans from the island to the mainland,” Velázquez said in a statement to Semafor. “While the Trump campaign may claim these comments don’t reflect their views, his track record is clear. Trump repeatedly attacked our island in the wake of Hurricane Maria and even contemplated selling it off.”