ALLENTOWN, PA — Former President Donald Trump returned to the largest battleground state on Tuesday for an evening rally in Pennsylvania’s largest majority-Latino city. The visit comes just days after a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally made racist comments about Puerto Rico that were widely condemned across the political spectrum.

While Trump hit many of his usual talking points, from criticizing Harris on the economy and the border to insulting her intelligence, he also appeared to have another goal: attracting Latino voters to the amid growing controversy.

“I am so proud that we are receiving support from Latinos like never before,” Trump said. “We are setting all the records. Hispanics, Latinos, no one loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do. Person.”

He said “no one” has done more for Puerto Rico than him and promised to deliver “the best future for Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Americans.”

Trump said he “could” get 50% support among Latinos, which would be a significant number for a Republican presidential candidate. Poll shows Trump has made improvements with Latino voters nationwide, although he still lags behind Harris among that demographic.

Several speakers during the pre-programming did not specifically reference comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s description of Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage,” but tried to make the case that Trump cares about Puerto Ricans, with some uttering a part of their speeches in Spanish.

“I am a Puerto Rican and I would like to start by expressing my love for the island of Puerto Rico,” Tim Ramos, a local business leader and former GOP candidate for mayor of Allentown, said at the start of the rally. . “We have a proud heritage, one that has seen our men fight in every war this nation has ever fought. »

“We are a beautiful people from a beautiful island,” he added. “From our flag to our beaches to our salsa music. We summarize what true beauty is.

Ramos said Trump “understands that and sees that in us.”

“Donald Trump is not only the right choice for the Puerto Rican people, he is the right choice for all of America,” Ramos said.

Zoraida Buxó, Puerto Rico’s Republican shadow senator, also took the stage in Allentown Tuesday evening.

“We are part of a Hispanic-American force of 65 million people,” Buxó said. “We Hispanics are part of the soul of this country.”

“We have made a difference and we will do so again in the next election to bring about much-needed change,” she added. “With everything that is happening or will happen in the final stretch, it is easy to become distracted or misled by propaganda, emotional manipulation and distortion of truth and facts. »

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gave the longest speech of any speaker opening up to Trump on Tuesday.

He attempted to flip the script on the Harris campaign by claiming that the Harris campaign’s closing message was “the nastiest, ugliest, most dangerously destructive campaign message in modern American history.” .

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk told the Capital-Star before Tuesday’s rally that people were angered by what was said at the rally at Madison Square Garden.

“I think it will make enough of a difference to matter,” he said. “We know Pennsylvania is so tight, right, that this might be the smallest margin and that might be just what pushes it over the edge.”

Before the Trump rally, Take the PA Road Actionwhich describes itself as “the largest Latinx organization in the state,” held a protest rally a block from the PPL Center.

Maegan Llerena, the organization’s executive director, said she believes everything was vetted by the campaign before the rally, meaning Trump must take responsibility for Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“So to say that he didn’t approve of this or that his people who work for him didn’t approve of this, which he has to verify himself, is naive,” she told Capital -Star.

Trump also criticized the former first lady Michelle Obama for her recent speech criticizing himclaiming that “it was a mistake” for him to do so. She is expected to campaign in Pennsylvania for the Harris-Walz ticket on Saturday.

Trump’s Tuesday started with a morning press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Floridathen a high-profile issues roundtable with Pennsylvania supporters in a banquet hall in the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby Township, a Delaware County suburb of Philadelphia.

Among the panelists was Maribel Cruz, an occupational therapist who moved to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico when she was a teenager. She did not mention the furor over Hinchcliffe’s comments at the Trump rally, but expressed support for Trump on behalf of Puerto Rico.

“I want you to know that Puerto Rico has your back,” Cruz said.

Trump thanked Cruz and recalled his administration response to Hurricane Maria in 2017which caused widespread damage and long-term power outages that led to thousands of deaths across the island in the months that followed.

“You remember you were there when I brought the hospital ship, against everyone’s advice, and we brought it there and took care of a lot of people, but I think no president has done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” Trump said. .

The DNC has planned billboards near Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania referencing the “garbage island” quote. The billboards will be placed on highways near Allentown, Reading and Philadelphia, which have large Puerto Rican populations.

2020 U.S. Census data shows Lehigh County, home to Allentown, has the largest percentage of Hispanic residents in the state, at 25.9%, followed closely by Berks County at 23.2%.

Both candidates seeking to represent the 7th Congressional District, where Allentown is located, denounced the Trump rally’s racist “jokes” about Puerto Rico.

“I am incredibly proud to represent a diverse constituency, including a vibrant Puerto Rican population that is an important part of this community,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild said in a statement. statement. “Our Puerto Rican community represents the best of America: loving, intelligent people who have contributed so much to my community and to the United States as a whole, many of whom serve in our military and defend our country.”

“This is reprehensible, dangerous and hateful rhetoric that I condemn and that every politician should condemn,” she added.

“The comments made by this so-called ‘comedian’ at Madison Square Garden were not funny, they were offensive and wrong,” said state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, the Republican candidate trying to unseat Wild. POLICY.

According to a 2019 report from Center for Puerto Rican StudiesJust under 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, making it the third state with the largest concentration in the country. Philadelphia has the second largest Puerto Rican population in the United States among American cities, while Allentown is eighth, according to the 2020 Census.

Pennsylvania is the most important of the seven swing states in next week’s elections, with 19 electoral votes.

This story was originally published in Pennsylvania Capital-Starwhich, like Nevada Current, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.