Puerto Rico governor endorses Bill Nelson, Andrew Gillum candidacies

Oct. 01--Puerto Rico's Democratic governor visited Central Florida on Monday to endorse Sen. Bill Nelson's re-election bid and Andrew Gillum's campaign for governor.

The visit by Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló underscored the growing importance of Puerto Rican voters in Florida and Democratic hopes that anger at President Donald Trump's response to Hurricane Maria will motivate already Democratic-leaning Puerto Ricans to turn out in the midterm election.

The number of Floridians who identify as Puerto Rican Hispanics has more than doubled since 2000, with the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimating their number at more than 1.1 million in 2017. The University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimated in December that 53,000 people from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had moved to Florida in Maria's aftermath.

Trump claimed on Twitter that the death toll was much lower and the higher estimate "was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible."

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is challenging Nelson's Senate re-election bid, and Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis both publicly disagreed with Trump on the matter.

On Monday, Rosselló told Nelson "you are a great friend and you are a great champion of the people of Puerto Rico," according to a statement released by Nelson's campaign.

After appearing with Nelson in Orlando, Rosselló appeared with Gillum in Kissimmee to show his support for the Tallahassee mayor's gubernatorial bid.

The Rosselló endorsement of Nelson is noteworthy because Scott has visited Puerto Rico eight times since Maria hit and worked with Rosselló on relief efforts. In March, Rosselló tweeted his thanks to Scott "for accepting my invitation and traveling to San Juan to join me in the second Puerto Rico State of the Union Message. The Island appreciates your help after the passage of Hurricane Maria."

Scott's focus on the island appears to have earned some good will among Puerto Ricans in Florida. A recent Bendixen & Amandi International survey of Florida Hispanics who are 50 and older, commissioned by the AARP and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, found 56 percent of likely voters of Puerto Rican descent have a favorable opinion of Scott, compared to only 27 percent who view Trump favorably and 32 percent who have a favorable view of DeSantis.

The poll found Hispanics who are 50 and older favor Scott over Nelson by a 52-to-38 percent margin statewide. In the Orlando area, which features the largest Puerto Rican population, Nelson leads Scott among older Hispanics by a 47-to-43 percent margin.

That small lead for Nelson is "probably not where he needs to be" with Hispanic voters in general and Puerto Ricans in particular, said Anthony Williams, the special projects director for Bendixen & Amandi. Williams noted that Hispanic voters who are younger than 50 tend to lean more Democratic than their elders.

"Gov. Scott, although he's aligned with the president, does have his own brand with these voters, so he's able to rise above it. He's done significant direct outreach ... It's a vote that he's not taking for granted," Williams said.

Nelson has tried to link Scott to Trump with Hispanic voters, releasing a Spanish-language ad last month that featured pictures of Scott and Trump together and calling them "muy buenos amigos." A day after Nelson's ad hit, Scott released an ad in which he says, in Spanish: "When I don't agree with what President Trump does or says, I've said it. My only commitment is with you."

Scott countered today's Rosselló endorsement of Nelson by releasing 13 new endorsements from Puerto Rico officials, bringing to 59 the number of current and former officials from the island who have formally backed his campaign.

In response to the Rosselló endorsement of Gillum in the governor's race, the DeSantis campaign released statements of support from Jenniffer González-Colón, the island's non-voting Republican representative to Congress, and two Republican state House members of Puerto Rican descent, Reps. Bob Cortes of Altamonte Springs and David Santiago of Deltona.

Researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story.

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