Harris steps up Latino outreach amid Trump rally fallout

Vice President Harris is stepping up her outreach to Latino voters in the final days of the election as former President Trump grapples with the fallout from his Madison Square Garden rally.

Harris renewed her pitch to those voters in an interview on Spanish-language radio earlier this week, and her campaign was quick to cut a new ad highlighting the offensive remarks made at the rally, in which a comedian mocked Latinos and Puerto Rico.

The furor over Trump’s rally has given Harris a fresh opportunity to reach a voting bloc she has somewhat struggled with over the last several months, and observers think it could be a tipping point for more Latino voters to support her.

“Ironically, Donald Trump did what the Harris campaign wasn't able to do, which is move his support levels with Latinos down,” said Mike Madrid, a leading Latino GOP political consultant. “I certainly wouldn't mess with that if I were the Harris campaign. You want to amplify that, play into that, lean into that as a closing message, as a reminder of sort of who he is and why he was fired in the first place, and what he would mean to the community going forward.”

Madrid added that though Democrats have been trying to maintain the lead they have held with Latino voters, they’ve slowly been losing support for the last 30 years, even as they’ve tried to highlight Trump’s history of controversial comments in the last few election cycles.

The comments could make a difference, particularly in battleground Pennsylvania, which is home to roughly 500,000 Puerto Ricans. Harris met with Puerto Rican voters on Sunday in West Philadelphia prior to Trump’s rally.

Ironically, Madrid said the fact that the comments didn’t come from Trump himself, but rather from one of his supporters, might have actually made the fallout worse for the former president.

“If Trump had said this, this would have been an hour-long story ... because we're immune to it now, we’re numbed by it,” said Madrid. “It was that were so many others around him were saying it that was shocking. It's easy to just write this off as Trump being Trump when he does it, but when other people do it, our sensibilities can still be shocked and we can still be shamed by that behavior. That's why this was different.”

Democrats are banking that Hinchcliffe’s comments have upset Latino voters across the board. Though they acknowledge the group is not a monolith, the party’s strategists point to the shared experiences many Latino voters share as immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

"For many people, I’m sure this is somewhat of a tipping point,” said Colin Rogero, founding partner at Conexion, a Democratic consulting firm.

Rogero cited the spike in the involvement of “nonpolitical actors” following the comments, including from Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, who immediately signaled support for Harris following Trump’s rally.

Additionally, Puerto Rican singer and actor Jennifer Lopez is slated to join Harris on the campaign on Thursday in Las Vegas.

“Things like that do have some power,” Rogero said.

But Harris’s outreach to the voting bloc began long before the fallout from Trump’s rally.

Last week Harris announced a proposal focused on uplifting Latinos, which included eliminating unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs, offering forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to entrepreneurs and increasing Latino homeownership.

And just hours before Trump’s rally on Sunday, Harris’s campaign also released an agenda focused on Puerto Rico that will foster economic growth, rebuild and modernize the island’s energy grid, bring down housing costs and ensure equal access to federal programs that strengthen the health care system across the island. 

“The Latino vote must be earned and our campaign is putting in the work each and every day as more and more undecided Latino voters are tuning into the election,” Fabiola Rodriguez, deputy Hispanic Media Director for the Harris-Walz campaign, told The Hill.

“Our campaign isn’t just driving home the stakes of this election to Latinos, but also using this final stretch to lay out just how Vice President Harris will deliver on the issues that matter most to our communities. It’s a stark contrast to Trump who is using this final stretch of time to insult our community, double down on losing issues, and alienate the very voters needed to win this election.”

Some strategists have also pointed to the contrast between Harris’s campaigning and Trump’s.

Though he held a roundtable with Latino leaders in Florida earlier this month, Trump has not released any Latino-centered policies. 

“When you compare the two presidential campaigns, it is not even close, the Harris campaign has a huge infrastructure in place dedicated to communicating with and mobilizing Latino voters, while Trump seems more focused on anti-immigrant comments to rile up his most right-wing supporters,” said Matt A. Barreto, Director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project and professor of political science and Chicano Studies.

“In the final weeks, Harris has released a detailed plan for economic opportunity for Latino men and has surrogates like Senator Alex Padilla in Latino barbershops, Congressmen Tony Cardenas and Chuy Garcia at Latino lowrider shows, and more out on the campaign trail talking directly to Latino men.  Trump has virtually no organized Latino campaign operation and the public polls are starting to show Harris consolidate the Latino vote.”

While Harris has consistently led with Latino voters generally, and some polls show her with a 40-point lead among Latino women, Trump and Republicans have made inroads with parts of the voting bloc in recent election cycles. Additionally, polls this election cycle have shown softer support for Harris among the group, particularly among young Latino men.

A GenForward survey released last week showed 44 percent of young Latino men said they supported Trump. But an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday showed Harris growing her lead among Hispanic voters to 64 percent. That is up from 55 percent in early October. Trump in the previous poll came in with 43 percent, but now his support stands at 34 percent among the group.

Numerous Republicans, including Latino Republicans, came out forcefully to condemn Hinchcliffe’s remarks. Trump’s campaign said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s comments do not reflect the views of Trump or the campaign. The former president himself has distanced himself from the remarks, saying he did not hear Hinchcliffe’s remarks and does not know him.

On Tuesday, Trump campaigned in Allentown, Pa., home to the largest Latino population in the swing state. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), as well as one of Puerto Rico’s shadow senators, Zoraida Buxó, delivered remarks in support of Trump.

"I will deliver the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans," Trump told the crowd.