Puerto Ricans might affect future elections in Florida
With Puerto Ricans flocking to Florida to escape Hurricane Maria’s destruction, controversial comments by President Donald Trump and a widely criticized federal response could come back to haunt Republicans in the state.
Able to register and vote immediately as U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans have typically identified as independent but voted Democratic — and they could be the key to future elections in such a closely divided state.
“It’s going to affect the election cycle, and deservedly so,” said Vivian Rodriguez, vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. “People’s voices are going to be heard.”
But Democrats and Republicans warned that Puerto Ricans’ votes should not be taken for granted.
“Both parties have their work cut out for them,” said John Quinones of Kissimmee, a Republican and the first person of Puerto Rican ancestry
elected to the Florida House in 2002. “The reality is, people are more focused on local politics. All politics is local.”
About 320,000 Puerto Ricans live in Central Florida — almost a third of the 1 million statewide — according to the latest U.S. Census data.
While exact numbers of Puerto Rican voters weren’t available, overall almost 366,000 voters statewide, or 23 percent, were of Hispanic origin.
Jorge Duany, a professor at Florida International University and former acting dean at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, said Puerto Ricans have “a unique status in the U.S.” in that they can’t vote for president or U.S. Congress on their home island, but are allowed to do so once they move to a U.S. state.
“It’s one of the most powerful incentives to migrate,” Duany said.
Darren Soto, a Democratic U.S. congressman of Puerto Rican descent, said younger families with kids who move to Florida would be more likely to stay — and likely register to vote.
“In a state where the last big elections have all been decided by one point, they could tip the balance depending on how they go,” Soto said.
On a visit to the island last week, Trump talked about how much the recovery costs would throw the federal budget “out of whack” and said Maria was not a “real catastrophe” like Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Earlier, Trump called the mayor of San Juan an “ingrate” on Twitter and said local leaders “were not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.”
Vice President Mike Pence tried to walk some of Trump’s comments back during his visit Thursday to a relief center in Kissimmee, where Myrna Malave, of Kissimmee, was in the supportive audience.
Malave criticized the slow pace of recovery and called for more help for the island, but also said Trump’s words didn’t bother her.
“I look at Trump as a New Yorker,” she said. “A lot of times, New Yorkers just say as they feel. He doesn’t mean any harm.”
But Rodriguez said she expects Trump’s comments to reverberate among new arrivals and established residents alike.
“Of course it’s going to have a major impact,” Rodriguez said. “We all saw how the president handled hurricanes in Texas as well as Florida. There were boots on the ground right away. Why is it taking so long in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico?”
She also called Trump’s comments on Puerto Rican workers “despicable.”
“To me, it was a dog whistle,” she added. “It’s like he said Hispanics and minorities want everything done for them.”
Annette Taddeo, a Democrat who won a special election for state Senate in South Florida this month, said Democrats have to make sure they give Puerto Ricans a reason to vote for them.
“It’s not just enough that Donald Trump is constantly talking about this or tweeting about that,” Taddeo said.
On the Republican side, Quinones pointed to several prominent GOP office-holders of Puerto Rican descent, including state Reps. Bob Cortes and Rene Plasencia. Both joined other Republicans this week in asking for additional school funding to absorb an influx of students from Puerto Rico.
The best strategy for Republicans to reach Hispanics in Florida, Quinones said, is to focus on helping residents and distance themselves from Trump’s remarks.
“Democrats will try to make that an issue, but Trump doesn’t speak for all Republicans,” he said. “And there’s going to be [an effort] of making sure that’s understood by Puerto Ricans as they come here.”
Miriam Ramirez, a Republican and former Puerto Rican state senator, also cautioned about “mixing politics and disaster.”
“There’s an underlying effort by big groups trying to make sure the entire Puerto Rican population that comes here votes Democrat,” Ramirez said.
But Jared Nordland of UnidosUS, a Hispanic advocacy organization formerly known as National Council of La Raza that registered more than 50,000 Hispanics last year during drives in Orlando and Miami, said they were not pushing a partisan line.
“We register anybody, whether Republican, Democrat or independent,” Nordland said.
Most Hispanics have been registering as independents instead of joining a party, he added. As for the political impact from Maria, he said, a lot depends on who stays — and who returns.
“Is relocation going to have a permanent or temporary effect so that by the time 2020 rolls around, [many migrants] are back in Puerto Rico?” he said. “It depends on what the condition of the island is.”