Zoraida Buxo, one of Puerto Rico’s nonpartisan shadow senators, will officially endorse former President Donald Trump at his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
NBC News’s Dasha Burns was the first to report that Buxo will speak at the rally, which will be “heavy on Puerto Rican speakers,” and journalist Jack Posobiec reported that Buxo will announce her support for Trump.
Buxo, who was elected in 2021 to the delegation that advocates for statehood, posted a statement from Trump on Monday, saying he is “firmly committed to the process where Puerto Ricans might resolve their status according to Constitutional and Congressional protocols.”
“As president I will do my part to insure that Congress follows the Constitution,” he added. “The will of the Puerto Rican people in any status referendum should be considered as Congress follows through on any desired change in status for Puerto Rico, including statehood.
Buxo said Trump is the candidate Puerto Rico “needs.”
“Don’t have the slightest doubt, [Donald Trump] is the firm leader that PR needs to take us out of territorial limbo and do justice,” she wrote in a post on X.
“In 2016, support for respecting the will of the electorate and providing a constitutionally valid process was expressed. TODAY IT IS REAFFIRMED,” Buxo added.
As the Associated Press noted, 53 percent of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of statehood in the 2020 referendum.
Her support for Trump and forthcoming appearance at his rally Tuesday, which is slated for 7:00 p.m. Eastern, comes as Democrats desperately try to make hay out of roast-style comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s disparaging joke about Puerto Rico during Trump’s historic rally at Madison Square Garden.
The joke, which was dubbed Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” fell flat with MAGA supporters in the arena, and the Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks.
In an interview published Tuesday, Trump told ABC News Senior Congressional Reporter Rachel Scott he does not know Hinchcliffe.
“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, adding he had not seen the rally performance.
Democrats are seizing on the joke as Hispanic voters seem to be laughing off the media’s effort to manufacture outrage, as Breitbart News reported. Hispanic-dense Miami-Dade continued to trend red following the rally after the GOP took the advantage in the combined mail-in and early voting numbers last week.
