Celebrity endorsements in an election year are hardly a new phenomenon. But former President Donald Trump’s appearance alongside Puerto Rican reggaeton star Anuel AA forms part of a larger emerging pattern in his campaign’s outreach to voters of color — and signals the campaign might see an opportunity in battleground Pennsylvania.
After greeting the former president on the tarmac, Anuel AA, born Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, endorsed Trump during his rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, telling Puerto Ricans to “stay united” and to “vote for 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 going to vote for Trump right now. We’ll take it,” Trump told several thousand attendees at the campaign rally while introducing the rapper.
While the immediate crowd might not be familiar with the star, his magnitude as a reggaeton and rap artist likely won’t be lost on the likely target audience: young Puerto Rican voters and battleground state Latino voters at large. The 31-year-old rapper is a frequent feature on smash hits with artists like Bad Bunny — and a major artist in his own right with a social media following millions-strong to show for it.
But the rapper’s appearance and brief remarks may also be part of a larger Trump campaign effort to court artists of color to engage voters in a new way. Trump has garnered the support of several notable Black artists — including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — and others like Sexxy Red have signaled their support for the former president in interviews. At a rally in the Bronx earlier this year, Trump brought up two local fixtures of the growing drill music scene: Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow.
Even though Puerto Ricans who live on the island — despite being U.S. citizens — can only vote in presidential primaries and not in the general election, they can still influence relatives on the mainland. Pennsylvania, a state that doesn’t often first come to mind as a battleground with a sizable Latino vote, is home to the third-largest Puerto Rican diaspora community in the country (roughly 500,000 Puerto Ricans strong) after thousands fled the island in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Puerto Rican and Latino support for President Joe Biden proved crucial in cementing his successful 2020 campaign in the Keystone State, while over 60% of Latino voters nationwide broke for Biden over Trump, according to exit polls conducted at the time.
Now, both sides of the ticket may see a path to victory in strengthening their margins in these growing diaspora communities.
Earlier this summer, the Trump campaign opened a “Latino Americans for Trump” office in Reading, Pennsylvania, inviting former Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño to deliver remarks at its opening in both English and Spanish.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris, before launching her own presidential bid following Biden’s decision to no longer seek re-election, took her first official trip to the island and toured housing developments made possible through $140 billion of infrastructure funding from the Biden-Harris administration.
While the influence of any celebrity endorsement is hard to gauge, Anuel AA wading into the election on Trump’s behalf is significant — even if just as a pop culture moment.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
