“Everybody has seen the damage of the storm and yet policy decisions go in the opposite direction of where they should go,” Rosselló said in an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Puerto Rico governor vows midterm revenge for tax bill

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló says he plans to mobilize 5.3 million Puerto Ricans living on the mainland to shake up the midterm elections in states ranging from Florida to California.

Rosselló, a Democrat and member of the island's pro-statehood New Progressive Party, is infuriated about a Republican tax plan that he says could hobble the island’s economy even as thousands of residents remain without power and water three months after Hurricane Maria.


“Everybody has seen the damage of the storm and yet policy decisions go in the opposite direction of where they should go,” Rosselló said in an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday. “We’re not just going to stand by. We are going to take action.”

The 3.4 million U.S. citizens living on the island have no vote in Congress, but they do have 5.3 million fellow Puerto Ricans scattered across the mainland who do have a vote. It’s that political power Rosselló plans to leverage.

“We are a significant voting bloc in the United States that perhaps hasn’t been organized well in the past,” he said. “The diaspora, the Puerto Rican exodus, has always wanted to help Puerto Rico, it just hasn’t been crystal clear how they can do it. If we can establish that organization we can have plenty of influence.”

For Rosselló, the idea gelled with the tax vote, which blew a hole in tax and manufacturing rules granting the island both foreign and domestic status. The system has made Puerto Rico a tax haven for drug and medical device makers, who can incorporate in the commonwealth as foreign subsidiaries but label their products as made in the U.S.

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The new tax plan treats companies on the island the same as those operating outside the U.S., subjecting them to a tax of up to 12.5 percent on intellectual property.

Even if he can get the tax changes fixed and pick up other legislative wins, Rosselló said he intends to stick to his plan. His office has begun cataloging Puerto Ricans and Latinos living on the mainland to see where they can have an impact.

So far, he figures they can sway congressional district votes in 14 states, including Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. He pointed to the influence of Florida’s 2.7 million Cuban-Americans, a powerful and well-organized constituency.

Rosselló has been trading barbs this week with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over Rubio's support for the tax bill.

“We are twice the size. If we can get organized, we can certainly start swaying decisions our way and having at least some political leverage,” he said. “We will evaluate those who gave the good fight for the people of Puerto Rico and those that didn’t.”

His plan also would draw attention to Puerto Rico’s legal status, which he calls “this big elephant in the room”.

“What are we going to do with a colonial territory in the 21st century?” Rosselló said. “The United States has unfinished business. It holds the oldest and most populated colonial territory in the world.”

“Having no representation is a clear disadvantage and if you need any more evidence of this just look at the tax reform,” Rosselló said. “Just because we don’t have representation we got railroaded.”