Trump and his allies, though, haven’t shied away from policies unpopular with large swaths of Hispanic voters. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo | AP Photo/Gerald Herbert Trump, wooing Hispanic voters, starts in Miami

TALLAHASSEE — Donald Trump will make Miami the jumping off point for his 2020 outreach to Hispanic voters, a prized portion of the electorate in a prized state, Florida, which is key to his reelection effort.

Vice President Mike Pence will roll out “Latinos for Trump” in Miami on Tuesday, a day before Democrats land in the city for their first debates and a week after the president kicked off his 2020 reelection campaign in Orlando. The activity has underscored what’s already apparent: Florida and its 2.2 million Hispanics voters are key to Trump’s bid to remain in the White House.


Trump’s first-term policies have drawn heavy backlash from Hispanic communities, but his campaign hopes a healthy economy and branding Democrats as socialists can move some of those critics into his column. For Trump, next week’s launch is less about winning Florida’s Hispanic-heavy communities, but making sure Democrats don’t run up the margins too much.

The Latino effort will be co-chaired by Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, a Cuban American and former member of the Florida House, said a person familiar with the decision who confirmed the Tuesday event but was not authorized to speak to the press. The event was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Trump won Florida in 2016 with 35 percent of the Hispanic vote, a number bolstered by the support of more than half of the state’s more-conservative Cuban vote. More than two-thirds of non-Hispanic Cubans in Florida voted for Hillary Clinton.

Democrats had to retool their outreach to Hispanic voters after a much-criticized 2018 effort that some in the party believe cost U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson his seat and doomed the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum.

Exit polling in those races, both of which went to recounts, showed Nelson and Gillum each getting 54 percent of the Hispanic vote, a lower figure than Democrats had hoped for.

“We had a message, but there was a delay in getting it out,” said state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez (D-Miami). “The general election was only 11 weeks long. There were some operational problems that I don’t think will be there in 2020.”

Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Peñalosa said the party has 90 field organizers, half of which are Spanish speaking, already on the ground in Orlando and Miami.

“We are going back to the program that won Florida in2012,” he said. “Organize and register early.”

Outreach to Florida’s Hispanic voters will be an exercise in contrasts next year.

Team Trump hopes a message highlighting record-low unemployment, branding Democrats as socialists and taking a hard line against Cuba and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will energize Florida’s sizable exile community.

The state is home to more than two-thirds of the nation’s Cuban population and has a growing number of Venezuelans who have fled to Florida to escape the political and economic crisis at home.

Sen. Rick Scott, a former two-term Florida governor, made the state’s exile population key to his reelection bid, taking similar hardline approaches to Cuba and Venezuela. He has made nine trips to Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria hammered the island.

Democrats are focusing their registration efforts on expanding the Hispanic share of Florida’s electorate, while pointing to policies they hope will hobble Trump efforts to pull in Hispanic support.

They’ll point to Trump’s opposition to federal disaster relief for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. And the president’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border sends a toxic message that will help them hold their large overall advantage with Hispanic voters.

Democrats, like the Trump campaign, also are focusing on Venezuelan voters, noting Trump has not granted temporary asylum to Venezuelans fleeing the violence and food shortages that now plague the country.

“This is the same administration that has refused to give Venezuelans asylum,” said Jose Parra, a Miami Democratic consultant and onetime aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “They have really saber-rattled on Venezuela, but there is little to show for it.”

Parra called Trump’s hardline immigration policies — which include removing children from their families — a “deportation machine.” Republicans have framed the president’s policies as a needed step to secure the border.

Trump’s Hispanic outreach rollout will be announced roughly 40 miles from the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, a federal facility that has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate.

The facility’s population has swelled as the administration moves to slow southern border crossings. The increased numbers have drawn scrutiny from advocacy groups who hold regular protests calling for the facility to be shuttered.

Trump and his allies, though, haven’t shied away from policies unpopular with large swaths of Hispanic voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, last week signed legislation into law banning cities from adopting policies to discourage cooperation with federal immigration officials.

As lawmakers were debating the bill during the spring legislative session, protesters flooded the Capitol, joining Democrats who said the bill would fill the state’s undocumented population with fear and uncertainty. Republicans said the measure wasn’t anti-immigrant, but simply an effort to ensure Florida cities comply with federal law.

Trump gave DeSantis a shout-out for signing the bill during his Orlando campaign rally.

“Democrats support sanctuary cities,” Trump said Tuesday to a raucous crowd in Orlando’s Amway Center. “Thank you Governor Ron for ending that whole disaster.”