Noted Puerto Rican actors rallied in Bethlehem and hundreds of Latino canvassers knocked on doors in Lancaster over the weekend as Democrats aimed to mobilize voters in predominantly Hispanic cities in Pennsylvania who have previously skipped elections.
Latino voters in the battleground state, especially those who are of Puerto Rican descent, are less likely to pledge their unconditional loyalty to specific presidential candidates compared with the general voting population in Pennsylvania — making them “one of the few voting groups where there’s a chance of either mobilizing them or changing their minds,” Michael Jones-Correa, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told NBC News.
More than half of the nearly 580,000 eligible Latino voters in Pennsylvania are of Puerto Rican descent. Considering that the last presidential election in the state was decided by less than 81,000 votes, Puerto Rican voters “could be decisive” this year if they turn out, according to the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at UCLA.
Latino voter turnout has remained the lowest of all major racial and ethnic groups in the state, according to data from the institute. Just over half of Latinos turned out to vote in Pennsylvania in the last presidential election, compared with two-thirds of all eligible voters.
Saturday’s rally with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Waltz coincided with the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Liza Colón-Zayas, the first Latina to win an Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy for her role as Tina in “The Bear,” spoke directly to Puerto Rican prospective voters, criticizing former President Donald Trump for withholding hurricane aid and for downplaying the hurricane’s death toll. She said he “tossed paper towels at us.”
“We have more political sway now than ever before, and when we vote, we win,” she added.
Colón-Zayas also spoke in support of electing Vice President Kamala Harris as the first female president.
“Now that I know something about making history, I am here to tell you that we can make history again,” she said.
“Hamilton” actor Anthony Ramos, who is also Puerto Rican, encouraged people to “not just get out and vote” but to also “vote for Kamala Harris.”
In Lancaster, 200 canvassers from CASA in Action, a nonprofit civic engagement group focused on electing progressive candidates, knocked on the doors of 3,500 registered voters in collaboration with Democratic former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, who is also Puerto Rican. Lancaster is the fifth most Hispanic city in Pennsylvania.
They focused on engaging with voters who “don’t have a history of voting with frequency,” Jossie Flor Sapunar, communications director for CASA in Action, told NBC News. “They’re what we call ‘low propensity voters.'”
Sapunar described Saturday’s canvassing event as a “show of solidarity between the immigrant and the Puerto Rican community.”
The Trump campaign and other Republicans recently touted the support of Puerto Rican reggaeton star Anuel AA, who told a crowd in Johnstown that Puerto Ricans should “stay united” and “vote for Trump.”
Because Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens, they can easily register to vote in presidential elections once they move to the mainland U.S., which is different from members of other Latino communities, who need to undergo lengthy immigration processes to get naturalized.
Many of the canvassers working for CASA in Action were immigrants who aren’t yet eligible to vote. In mobilizing Puerto Rican voters, the canvassers shared their immigration stories to let eligible voters know they could be a voice to those who are ineligible to vote, Sapunar said.
In a UnidosUS survey, Pennsylvania Latino voters’ top policy issues included jobs and the economy, the rising cost of living, immigration and abortion.
Despite their infrequent participation, Latinos in Pennsylvania have voted more for the Democratic Party than for the Republican Party, Jones-Correa said. But engaging them is important for Democrats to ensure they don’t sit out the coming election, as many of them did in 2020.
“Latinos stayed home during that election, more than they had in 2016 and in the previous election cycles,” Jones-Correa said, adding that Harris stands to lose the most if enough Puerto Ricans don’t turn out to vote.
Pennsylvania voters had primarily favored Democrats in six presidential elections leading up to 2016, when Republicans won, turning Pennsylvania into a battleground state. Trump won it by 0.7 percentage points in 2016, and Joe Biden won by 1.2 points in 2020.
