Rep. Mercado blasts Singh over his ‘Hispanic female’ comment
State Rep. Amy Mercado called on Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh to apologize for comments he made implying she was picked to run against him because she is a “Hispanic female.”
Singh refused, and called Mercado’s concerns a “bogus issue.”
In an interview published Monday in the Orlando Sentinel, Singh said Mercado, who along with Khalid Muneer is challenging Singh in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary, was recruited by business interests tied to Disney because of her gender and ethnicity.
“They went out and found someone with a larger name ID” than another one of his 2020 opponents who dropped out, Yesinia Baron, “and of course a Hispanic female, [because] they’re targeting minority Democratic women,” Singh said.
Mercado blasted what she said was “Singh’s derogatory, racist and sexist comments, implying that the only reason I am running for office is because of my gender and race.”
Mercado cited a lawsuit filed by two of Singh’s former employees to claim that he “has a record of making sexist and demeaning remarks. … His Trump-like behavior of bullying and making inappropriate comments about women should have no place in the Democratic Party.”
She added that “while Singh implies I am running for office only because I am a Hispanic female, I support candidates based on their qualifications and character, not their gender or ethnicity. … Comments and behavior from elected officials like Singh remind us there is still a long way to go.”
In a statement, Singh said he was commenting on campaign strategy, not Mercado.
“It is a widely accepted strategy to align advertising with audiences that would naturally support or oppose a candidate,” Singh said. “In this case, since one of the candidates is a Hispanic female, those audiences are receiving lots of attention from pollsters and political advertisers.”
He called Mercado’s request “another Tallahassee trick to distract the voters.”
“I am a minority,” said Singh, an Indian American. adding that his daughter Amrita is running for a judgeship this year. “It is ludicrous, insulting even, to think that I would ever slander or slight minorities or women.”
Singh’s comments about Mercado were made while discussing a mysterious South Florida political group called the Florida Public Corruption Task Force that has spent tens of thousands of dollars on antiSingh mailers.
The mailers cite the lawsuit and a state investigation that recommended Singh be charged with purposely altering documents. But prosecutors declined to press charges and questioned the credibility of former employees who made the accusations.
The political group, whose backers are unknown, has also praised Mercado in mailers. She said she has no connection with them and that it used her photo without permission.