Celebrity endorsement in an election year is not a new phenomenon. But former President Donald Trump’s appearance alongside Puerto Rican reggaeton star Anuel AA is part of a larger emerging pattern in his campaign’s outreach to voters of color — and shows the campaign may see an opportunity in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
After greeting the former president on the tarmac, Anuel AA, born Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, supported Trump at his rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Friday, telling Puerto Ricans to “stay united” and “vote Trump.”
“I don’t know if these people know who the hell you are, but it’s good for the Puerto Rican vote. Every Puerto Rican is voting for Trump right now. We’ll take it,” Trump told several thousand attendees at a campaign rally introducing the rapper.
While the star may not be familiar to the public, his status as a reggaeton and rap artist is unlikely to be lost on his likely target audience: young Puerto Rican voters and the battleground state’s Latino voters. The 31-year-old rapper has often appeared on hits by artists such as Bad Bunny – and is a major artist in his own right, with a social media following of millions.
But the rapper’s appearance and brief remarks could also be part of a larger Trump campaign effort to tap artists of color to engage voters in a new way. Trump has garnered the support of several prominent black artists — including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — and others, such as Sexxy Red, have voiced their support for the former president in interviews. At a rally in the Bronx earlier this year, Trump singled out two local staples of the growing drill music scene: Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow.
Although Puerto Ricans living on the island – despite being US citizens – can only vote in presidential elections and not in general elections, they can still influence their relatives on the mainland. Pennsylvania, a state that doesn’t often first come to mind as a battleground with a large Latino vote, is home to the nation’s third-largest Puerto Rican diaspora community (about 500,000 Puerto Ricans), after thousands of people fled the island. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Puerto Rican and Latino support for President Joe Biden proved crucial in solidifying his successful 2020 campaign in the Keystone State, while more than 60% of Latino voters nationwide split in favor of Biden over Trump, according to polls at the time.
Now, both sides of the ticket can see a path to victory by strengthening their margins in these growing diaspora communities.
Earlier this summer, the Trump campaign opened a “Latino Americans for Trump” office in Reading, Pennsylvania, and invited former Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño to speak at the inauguration in both English and Spanish.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris, before launching her own presidential bid following Biden’s decision not to seek re-election, made her first official trip to the island and toured potential housing development thanks to $140 billion in infrastructure funding from the Biden-Harris administration.
While it’s hard to measure the impact of any celebrity endorsement, Anuel AA’s wading into the election for Trump is significant — even if it’s just a pop culture moment.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
