Pennsylvania Democrats say Trump rally Puerto Rico remark is breaking through ‘like very few other things have’ ahead of election
"I am hearing more on this than I’ve heard on almost any other issue this entire campaign season,” U.S. Rep. Susan Wild said.
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U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said that a crude joke about Puerto Rico made at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Sunday could sway down-ballot races in Pennsylvania, home to nearly half a million Puerto Ricans.
”It’s broken through like very few other things have in this whole campaign,” said Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who is locked in a tight battle for reelection against GOP challenger Dave McCormick. Casey said all Republicans — including McCormick, who released a statement saying the rally remarks do not align with his views — “should be held to account.”
“It’s about time Republican politicians like my opponent show some guts and stand up to that kind of hatred,” Casey said.
Democrats hope the remark made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe — who said on Sunday that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage” — motivate Puerto Rican and Latino voters to cast their ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris and down-ballot Democrats on Nov. 5. It’s not yet clear what effect the remark will have on the deadlocked presidential race in Pennsylvania, but clips of the joke have circulated widely on social media.
» READ MORE: Ahead of Allentown rally, Trump supporters line the streets as protesters plan to condemn Puerto Rico remarks
It has created something of a headache for Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party in the final days before the election. The campaign said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” Trump told ABC News Tuesday that he didn’t know the comedian and insisted he hadn’t heard the remarks.
During a roundtable in Delaware County Tuesday afternoon, Trump said that “no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.”
Trump was scheduled to appear Tuesday evening at a rally in Allentown, home to 34,000 Puerto Ricans and one of the largest Latino communities in the state.
» READ MORE: Growing support for Donald Trump in majority-Latino cities like Reading could help him win Pa.
Casey also campaigned in Allentown on Tuesday and appeared at a panel discussion about reproductive rights just a few miles away from where Trump was slated to speak. The senator appeared alongside U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) and U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D., Pa.).
Wild is facing a tight battle for reelection against Republican State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in a race that could determine control of the U.S. House. Mackenzie said in a statement to Politico that “the comments made by this so-called ‘comedian’ at Madison Square Garden weren’t funny, they were offensive and wrong.”
Wild, who represents 70,000 Puerto Ricans across her district, which includes Allentown, said the outrage in her area “has been palpable.”
”I am hearing more on this than I’ve heard on almost any other issue this entire campaign season,” Wild said.
Several Democrats who represent parts of the Lehigh Valley made similar comments earlier Monday during a news conference in Allentown to denounce the Trump campaign. State Rep. Mike Schlossberg said he looks at the controversy “as an opportunity.”
“Because maybe for the first time,” he said, “Donald Trump and his supporters decided to tell us the truth about what they think.”
Inquirer staff writer Fallon Roth contributed to this article.