Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton said that Vice President Kamala Harris has a new “opportunity” to win voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania following the racist remarks made during former President Donald Trump’s New York City rally.
Perhaps the biggest story out of Trump’s event in Madison Square Garden was the polarizing statements made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke before Trump and others close to his campaign took the stage Sunday night. Among the list of statements that sparked a firestorm was Hinchcliffe saying that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.” Hinchcliffe also made vulgar comments about Blacks and Hispanics.
Danielle Alvarez, Trump campaign senior adviser, has said that the joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” Other Republicans have also denounced Hinchcliffe’s comments.
No matter how much Trump distances himself from the statements, however, experts have suggested that Hinchcliffe’s jokes could hurt Trump in some key battleground states, where Puerto Rican voters have the chance to tip the results of some of Trump and Harris’ closest battles.
Singleton—who worked on the presidential campaigns for Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Ben Carson—said during an appearance on CNN Monday afternoon that the jokes could specifically hurt Trump in Pennsylvania.
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“I’m looking at a state like Pennsylvania, [a] critical battleground state where we know there are 465,000 plus Puerto Rican voters,” Singleton said during a panel on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
“Now, I would argue, that the Harris campaign has been struggling to find their footing in Pennsylvania, which I believe is a must-win state for either side,” Singleton continued.
“You’ve now given the Harris campaign an opportunity to potentially target that demographic with ads, Spanish and English, to be able to put their door knockers and focus on heavy Puerto Rican communities to turn them out,” he continued. “So if you’re looking at a 1 to 2 percent marginal turnout among Puerto Ricans alone, the math tells you, that would potentially be enough for the Vice President to win that state.”
When reached for comment on Monday, Trump’s campaign redirected Newsweek to its previous statement by Alvarez.
Harris’ campaign wasted no time jumping on Hinchcliffe’s comments on Sunday, including by re-sharing his jokes about Puerto Rico to its social platforms. The vice president also released a video message on Sunday attacking Trump’s policies toward Puerto Rico and released a detailed plan of how she intends to uplift the island’s economy if elected in November.
Several Puerto Rican celebrities have also come out in support of Harris following Hinchcliffe’s remarks. Bad Bunny, who has 45.6 million followers on Instagram, shared Harris’ video message four times on his platform. Songwriter and actor Ricky Martin, who has over 18.6 million followers on Instagram, posted a clip of Hinchcliffe’s jokes to his account, writing in Spanish, “This is what they think about us. Vote for Kamala Harris.”
According to a map compiled by UCLA’s Social Sciences Computing department, over 470,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, around 3.69 percent of the state’s total population.
Mark Shanahan, an associate professor of political engagement at the U.K.’s University of Surrey, told Newsweek earlier in the day Monday that Hinchcliffe’s comments “may be the campaign line that comes back to hurt Trump most in the coming week.”
“If Hinchcliffe has caused enough offense to draw voters away from Trump, it could be a joke that ends his career and Trump’s hopes of a return to the White House,” Shanahan said.
According to the polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, as of Monday evening, Trump is ahead in Pennsylvania by 0.3 percent on average, meaning the race is practically a tie. The New York Times polling average also finds Trump and Harris tied at 48 percent across Pennsylvania polling as of Monday.
Update 10/28/24, 9:57 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from Trump’s campaign.
