Politics

The Puerto Rican vote in Pennsylvania could have a powerful impact this election

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

The Puerto Rican vote in Pennsylvania could have a powerful impact this election

The Thursday before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign dropped an ad appealing directly to Puerto Rican voters. Unlike a previous video released a day after Trump-supporting comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” this new video was a master class in how to pull at the heartstrings of Boricua identity and pride.

If there is one presidential campaign truth coming out of Sunday’s garbage joke, it’s that Puerto Ricans are fired up to vote in 2024.

The video, called “Somos más” (we are more), featured a Spanish-speaking narrator, with his very noticeable Puerto Rican accent, listing the many reasons why Puerto Rico and its people should never be disrespected. It was a rare moment when Democrats got their message right for Puerto Rican voters and their Latino allies.

Of course, the ad was not for Puerto Ricans living on the island. Being a colony means that Puerto Rico’s 3 million residents can’t vote for president even though they are American citizens. It’s complicated as to why, and with just days until Election Day, the Harris campaign was not about to have the uncomfortable yet necessary conversations about why Puerto Ricans continue to be ignored by both Republicans and Democrats. Colonialism has that effect.

No, this ad was all about the nearly 1 million Puerto Ricans who can vote in swing states, where they live. And if there is one presidential campaign truth coming out of Sunday’s garbage joke, it’s that Puerto Ricans are fired up to vote in 2024, and the Harris campaign is wise to make sure they do.

They could in fact be the next swing state power brokers, particularly in states like Pennsylvania, where more than 300,000 voters of Puerto Rican descent are eligible to vote. In 2020, Joe Biden won the state by around 81,000 votes. If the last week has significantly raised the Boricua desire to not vote for Trump and to vote for Harris, then the state will stay in the Democratic column.

According to The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, Florida residents of Puerto Rican descent represent 5.7% of the state. Ohio, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are at 1%. In Arizona, Puerto Ricans account for 0.9% of the state, with Nevada coming in at 0.8%. In these races where just thousands of votes will determine Electoral College winners, playing up the events of last week and raising awareness among Puerto Ricans have a real chance of making a difference for Harris.

Understandably, the Trump campaign is doing everything it can to diffuse that possibility. Biden’s response to the “garbage joke” could have given Trump a lifeline; at a Tuesday rally in Allentown, where the population is about 25% Puerto Rican, Trump insisted he “will deliver the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans.” At the same event, Zoraida Buxó, a Republican Puerto Rican pro-statehood supporter and a “shadow senator” of the island’s current pro-statehood government, publicly supported Trump, saying, “We need this man back in the White House. We need this man to be our commander-in-chief. He will make us feel safe. And he will protect us.”

But Buxó’s Trump endorsement lacks the star power and influence of a number of prominent Puerto Rican celebrities who have publicly voiced their support for Harris, from Jennifer Lopez to Bad Bunny to Ricky Martin to Puerto Rican-Dominican reggaeton star Nicky Jam, who in September was all for Trump, but on Wednesday, took it all back.

“Never in my life did I think that just one month later a comedian would show up and criticize my country, and speak poorly of my country. And for that, I revoke any support for Donald Trump and I’m stepping aside from any kind of political situation. Puerto Rico is to be respected,” Jam posted on social media.

This sentiment is strongly echoed on the island itself, where people in Puerto Rico are fed up with their colonial status, as political anthropologist Yarimar Bonilla explains in her excellent New York Times opinion piece, in which she highlights how Puerto Rico’s younger generation “is determined to reclaim the island’s future.” Puerto Rico’s general election this year falls on the same day as the United States’s presidential election. History would be made if the island were to elect its first pro-independence governor, Juan Dalmau.

If Puerto Ricans in the diaspora mobilize and vote in record numbers, they will be issuing a declaration that they cannot be marginalized. Their message: Respect for Puerto Rico and its people is no longer optional.

As both Election Days approach, Puerto Rican voters in swing states can remain reactive to the predictable cycle of political neglect — or use this moment to signal their collective power. The Harris campaign’s recent ad is an acknowledgment of their potential, but it’s only the beginning. If Puerto Ricans in the diaspora mobilize and vote in record numbers, they will be issuing a declaration that they cannot be marginalized. Their message: Respect for Puerto Rico and its people is no longer optional.

Increased Puerto Rican electoral participation in the 2024 U.S. election could mean something even more significant than keeping Democrats in the White House. Despite the perceived tension between Boricuas in the diaspora and those who live in Puerto Rico, the reality is that stateside Puerto Ricans can flex their political power on Election Day to raise awareness of the ongoing injustice on the island caused by years of neglect from federal government disaster relief, inept power companies, a federally appointed fiscal control board supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and a desire for Boricua voices to be heard after the votes are cast.

Puerto Rican voters on Election Day can do just that.

Julio Ricardo Varela

Julio Ricardo Varela is an award-winning journalist and the founder of The Latino Newsletter.

Politics

Trump-backed Jay Feely wins GOP primary in Arizona’s battleground 1st District

Published

18 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely cruised to victory in Arizona’s 1st District on Tuesday, one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds.

Feely, a close ally of President Donald Trump, leveraged Trump’s endorsement to topple former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik.

He’ll face a steep challenge defeating the Democratic nominee in November: The 1st District, which spans the affluent suburbs north of Phoenix, is one of House Democrats’ top targets after Trump won it by just three points in 2024. Feely is looking to keep the seat under GOP control amid a midterm year that presents major headwinds for the party.

Politics

Rep. Andy Biggs wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

Published

18 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Biggs has won the GOP primary to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November, setting up a marquee governor’s race in one of America’s most competitive states.

Biggs, a former chair of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and a close ally of President Donald Trump, easily dealt with his only serious challenger, Rep. David Schweikert, on Tuesday. Before the primary results were official, he had already begun pivoting to the general election against Hobbs, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic governors this fall.

Republicans feel bullish about their odds of flipping the governorship, after Trump carried the state by five points in 2024. But even though Trump won last time, the state has gradually shifted to pure tossup territory over the past few years, electing Democrats to both Senate seats, as well as the attorney general and secretary of state’s offices.

Hobbs had already shifted her focus to Biggs as well. Her campaign has amassed a significant warchest for the race and has already started running ads. Biggs, given his lack of a significant primary challenge, has been able to hold onto more cash than his GOP rivals, but is still behind Hobbs.

The race will test whether Republicans, who are starting down a potentially bruising midterm cycle, can reclaim the top office of a state that has long been a place of success for the party.

During the Republican primary debate, Biggs spent more time talking about his working relationship with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly than he did flexing his endorsement from Trump or highlighting his House record, including his time atop the Freedom Caucus. Instead, he tried to refocus on his bipartisanship in Congress and his leadership in the state legislature.

“I know how to reach across the aisle,” Biggs said during the debate.

But he will still have to contend with many of his past stances, including his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

And Hobbs is already working to ensure voters know where Biggs stands on key issues as a longtime member of the House, including his anti-abortion positions and his role in 2020. Her campaign has repeatedly attacked him as “too extreme” for the state and has dubbed him “basement Biggs” for keeping a relatively low profile throughout the GOP primary.

Politics

Trump-backed Mark Lamb wins Arizona House primary despite sex scandals

Published

18 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A scandal-plagued House candidate powered by President Donald Trump’s endorsement won a messy primary Tuesday.

Mark Lamb, the former Pinal County sheriff, overcame a late push from self-funding candidate Daniel Keenan in Arizona’s 5th District. Lamb will enter November as the heavy frontrunner in the deep-red Phoenix-area district to replace Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who is running for governor.

Keenan had poured nearly $2 million of his own cash into the campaign and attempted to make Lamb’s alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power central to the race. Lamb has denied the allegations.

But Lamb — bolstered by Trump and Arizona-based Turning Point USA — managed to ward off the attacks.

The race’s outcome reveals the strength of Trump’s endorsement, and it’s the latest example of how willing GOP primary voters have been to accept scandal-ridden candidates favored by the president.

Lamb, who served as sheriff until 2024, earned national notoriety as a gun-toting critic of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policy. He secured Trump’s backing for the 5th District contest last year.

Then in May, the Arizona Republic launched a multi-part investigation alleging that Lamb engaged in a yearslong pattern of sending sexual images and instigating intimate encounters between him, his wife and others. One woman involved, Jillian Stannard, accused Lamb of encouraging her husband to have sex with other women, including Lamb’s wife. She also alleged that Lamb threatened her, saying there would be consequences, when Stannard raised concerns to religious leaders.

Screenshots the Republic obtained of messages with another woman, Tammy Peacock, suggest Lamb — then a sitting county sheriff — threatened to leverage Arizona’s revenge porn law against her.

In a statement last week, Lamb spokesperson Ed Morabito told Blue Light News that “these allegations are false and come from long-discredited political opponents.”

Lamb did not lose any significant endorsements in the wake of the scandals — Trump reinforced his endorsement in mid-July — even as Keenan made the allegations central to his campaign.