San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz is also taking a higher profile ahead of a potential 2020 bid against Puerto Rico Gov. Ricky Rosselló. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images San Juan mayor Cruz to endorse Nelson in Florida Senate race

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who earned the sobriquet “nasty” from President Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria, is endorsing Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for reelection — a move that Democrats hope will help activate the Puerto Rican community in November.

Cruz’s decision to publicly support Nelson as well as Congressman Darren Soto underscores the degree to which the Trump administration’s failure to provide aid and other assistance after Maria devastated Puerto Rico last fall has become a common campaign issue on the mainland as well as the island.


“Do you think Donald Trump respects us? Trump sees a Boricua and he sees paper towels,” Cruz said during a get-out-the-vote stop in Orlando on Saturday, recalling how the president visited the island after the hurricane and insulted many for dispensing paper towels to storm survivors as if he were shooting a basketball.

“You deserve people that take your opinions into account. And two of those people are Darren Soto and Sen. Bill Nelson,” Cruz went on. “It’s very simple, don’t complicate it. Do you want Donald Trump to keep doing what he does? Stay home. But if you want real change, the kind of change that moves people to be better, it’s simple: Register to vote, and vote.”

In a written statement, Nelson said Cruz is “a tremendous leader and advocate for the people of San Juan and all Puerto Ricans and it's an honor to receive her endorsement along with Florida's first Puerto Rican Congressman, Rep. Darren Soto, who has been a true champion for Central Florida and Puerto Rico. We look forward to welcoming Mayor Cruz back to Florida to campaign this fall."

Cruz planned to formally announce her endorsements of Nelson and Soto — Florida’s first member of Congress of Puerto Rican descent — Saturday evening at an Orange County Democratic dinner in Orlando, according to Melissa Mark-Viverito, vice president of the outreach group Latino Victory Fund and a former New York City councilwoman.

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Mark-Viverito is a friend of Cruz’s and was by her side Saturday.

Cruz is also taking a higher profile ahead of a potential 2020 bid against Puerto Rico Gov. Ricky Rosselló, a Democrat who has so far remained neutral in Nelson’s race against current Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

Latino Victory Fund, a political group dedicated to electing Hispanics, helped bring Cruz to Florida and lobbied for her endorsement of Soto and Nelson, whose lackluster Hispanic outreach has caused some concern among Democrats.

Mark-Viverito said Cruz’s backing can only help Nelson’s cause.

“She’s going to generate enthusiasm with the base, and, having her support, Sen. Nelson should help generate excitement with the base and help drive up the numbers and the numbers with Puerto,” Mark-Viverito told POLITICO.

Soto, who faces former Congressman Alan Grayson in the Aug. 28 Democratic primary, credited Cruz for standing up to Trump with him.

“Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz supports Sen. Bill Nelson because he’s a champion for Puerto Rico and will hold Trump accountable for his failed disaster-relief efforts,” Soto said.

Florida Democrats were hoping for more Puerto Rican voters to be added to the rolls after Hurricane Maria, but so far they haven’t materialized, despite tens of thousands of evacuees coming to Florida.

Puerto Ricans, who have particularly flocked to Central Florida, are now the largest Hispanic group in the state, with more than 1.1 million residents. Experts estimate that at least 500,000 are voters. And while exit polls and voting analyses show that about 7 in 10 Boricua voters tend to vote for the Democrat on the ballot, they’ve had vexingly poor turnout during midterm elections for the party. About 16 percent of Florida’s registered voters are Hispanic.

Political insiders say they’re not sure whether the politics of Hurricane Maria — specifically the widespread belief among Puerto Ricans that Trump’s administration did too little for the island — will be enough to hand Democrats a decisive advantage in Florida.

Complicating their efforts has been Scott’s decision to openly welcome hurricane evacuees, aggressively campaign in Spanish and tout the endorsements of the island’s lieutenant governor and its nonvoting member of Congress. Scott has also repeatedly visited the island next to Rosselló, who in turn has traveled repeatedly to Florida and promised to open up a political action committee to help advocate for the island.

Mark-Viverito said it “troubles” her to see Rosselló open a nonpartisan PAC because it means he could support Republicans. And she faulted him for allowing Scott, a “Trump Republican,” to use him as a campaign prop. However, Rosselló’s father, a former governor of the island, has endorsed Nelson.

Mark-Viverito said she couldn’t confirm whether Cruz would run for governor against Rosselló, but she said that the president is toxic to Puerto Ricans on the mainland as well as the island and that Trump could remain a campaign issue in the 2020 governor’s race in Puerto Rico.

Cruz isn’t well-known only among Puerto Ricans. She gained fame among progressives for criticizing Trump over Hurricane Maria aid when Rosselló wouldn’t.

“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” the president wrote on Twitter Sept. 30.

Cruz wore the insult as a badge of honor and appeared on TV with a black shirt emblazoned with the word “NASTY” in large white letters.