Rubio’s rapport with Latino voters could drive Trump to victory
By
Ross O'Keefe
June 21, 2024 8:54 am
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Former President Donald Trump‘s interest in selecting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as his vice president is setting off alarm bells for Democrats.
The Florida senator and one-time rival of Trump has turned into a reliable ally and offers the former president a direct line to a bloc Republicans have been flirting with taking from Democrats for years — Latino and Hispanic voters. While Latino and Hispanic voters aren’t a monolith, creating in-roads with them would put several states Democrats have taken for granted in recent cycles in play, Michael LaRosa, who is a former press secretary for first lady Jill Biden and special assistant to President Joe Biden, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
“But there is something Latino voters have in common: their Latin American roots and the pride that comes from casting a vote for someone who looks and talks like them,” LaRosa wrote. “Mr. Rubio would break a significant cultural barrier as the first Latino on a national ticket.”
Rubio could help Trump convince large Latino constituencies in swing states Arizona and Nevada while shoring up Republican-leaning Florida. It also could make normally Democratic New Mexico, which has the largest proportion of Hispanics in the United States, interesting.
There has been some doubt about whether Rubio could serve as Trump’s vice president, given the 12th Amendment doesn’t allow for a president and vice president to be from the same state, in this case, Florida, without losing its electoral votes.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3052740/marco-rubio-latino-voters-trump-victory/
