WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is seizing on racist comments made by an ally of Donald Trump this weekend about Puerto Ricans to launch a new digital ad targeting Latino voters that argues they “deserve better” than what the former president has to offer.
The paid media blitz follows derogatory remarks from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made crude jokes about Latinos and called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during the pre-program at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday.
The 30-second spot will run online in battleground states on platforms like YouTube TV, Hulu and Snapchat, where Latinos consume a lot of their media, according to a Harris campaign official who first shared the details with NBC News.
Pennsylvania alone is home to more than 450,000 Puerto Ricans, according to U.S. Census data, with more than 300,000 eligible voters, per the Latino Data Hub.
Beyond Pennsylvania, there are sizable Puerto Rican populations in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan as well, where the race could be determined by mere margins.
In addition to the ad, the Harris official said the Democrat’s campagin will also place new digital ads in “El Nuevo Dia,” the most popular newspaper in Puerto Rico, through Election Day. They will include a GIF that says in Spanish: “Focus on your family in the States. One voice, one vote.”
The new Harris campaign video starts out with the comedian’s own words, before turning to Trump saying “Puerto Rico” and then ending on Harris’ comments about how the former president responded when Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” Harris says, taken from a message her campaign had released Sunday as she was courting Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania, well before the Trump rally.
“As president, I will always fight for you and your families and together, we can chart a new way forward,” the ad concludes.
The Trump campaign attempted to distance itself from the remarks and some high-profile Republicans quickly rebuked them.
Before Trump’s event, Harris had rolled out her economic proposals for the Puerto Rican community during stops in Philadelphia, including at one Puerto Rican restaurant.
Her agenda, if elected, includes launching an “opportunity economy” for Puerto Ricans, including building a resilient energy grid by cutting bureaucratic red tape that has slowed projects in recent years.
The Harris campaign posted a video summarizing the policy, which was later shared on Instagram by Puerto Rican superstars like Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Luis Fonzi.
Some had already backed the vice president but Harris aides hope their decision to amplify her message during this moment has a large ripple affect with their massive followings. Taken together, the four musicians have more than 300 million Instagram followers.