Zoraida Buxó, one of Puerto Rico’s non-partisan shadow senators, officially endorsed former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night.
Buxó announced her support for Trump and Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Dave McCormick at Trump’s rally in Allentown, PA, where Fox News notes about one in four of the 125,000 residents are Puerto Rican.
“We need the leadership of Donald J. Trump as our commander-in-chief and Dave McCormick for our renewed leadership in the United States Senate. Pennsylvanians, American all, a better future is in your hands. Your vote is the most powerful tool you have to bring about change,” she said.
“For those reasons, among many others, I strongly and fully support and endorse Donald J. Trump to be our 47th president to make America great again and, of course, to make Puerto Rico shine again. Thank you, and God bless you all,” she added.
Later, Trump invited Buxó to join him on stage.
“It’s an honor to share the stage with you, Mr. President, and we have some unfinished business to do with respect to Puerto Rico,” she said. “And if there is a leader that can get us to a final resolution, that is you, that is you.”
Trump thanked Buxó, who he called a “highly respected person.”
“And I’m so proud that we’re getting support from Latinos like never before. We’re setting every record: Hispanics, Latinos,” he added. “Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do.”
Buxó was elected in 2021 to Puerto Rico’s shadow delegation, which advocates for statehood. Her endorsement of Trump comes as Democrats have zoned in on the off-color joke Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe told at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
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.
President Joe Biden one-upped Hinchcliffe on Tuesday night, saying all of Trump’s supporters are “garbage.”