The Trump campaign last week opened a “Latino Americans for Trump” campaign office in Reading, Pennsylvania, as the Republican presidential candidate hopes to exploit President Joe Biden’s lagging support among Hispanics in the key battleground state.
During the official opening, former Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno told the crowd that America needed “change.” He said that Hispanics believed in the American Dream obtained through “working hard.”
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are hoping to boost support among Hispanic voters in the battleground state that could decide the November election.
Reading, located roughly 65 miles from Philadelphia has a population of 95,000 – 67 percent of which are Hispanic, with high concentrations of Latinos from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
After the Trump-endorsed leadership took over the reins of the RNC, the party closed down many of its offices geared toward reaching out to minority voters. However, the RNC and the Trump campaign are hoping that prioritizing smaller government and entrepreneurship will resonate with Hispanics who traditionally favor the Democrat Party.
Hispanic support for President Biden has slipped in recent months. An April Ipsos poll showed the president’s favorability underwater among Hispanic voters by six points, with 47 percent unfavorable of the president and only 41 percent favorable.
The “Latino Americans for Trump” office opened just one week after the Trump campaign held a “Blacks for Trump” event at the opening of its first Pennsylvania campaign office in Philadelphia. The event featured several prominent black Republicans, including Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt.
The Biden campaign and the Democrat Party have already opened 24 campaign offices in Pennsylvania and have more than 100 staff statewide. The Democrats have spent several months organizing voter mobilization efforts and have been running ads in the state since late last summer targeting Hispanic voters.