The media attention in the Puerto Rican-heavy Orlando area should help boost the Democrats' name ID in the community. | Alex Wong/Getty Images 'Playing with fire': Rosselló expected to double endorse Nelson, Gillum

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to endorse Sen. Bill Nelson (D.Fla.) and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum on Monday in the heart of Florida’s Boricua community, giving both Democrats’ campaigns a potential lift with this crucial demographic.

Rosselló at 10:45 a.m. will make a “special announcement” with Nelson by his side, according to Nelson’s campaign. And at 1:15 p.m., Gillum’s campaign says, he’ll stand beside Gillum for another press conference in Kissimmee. Neither campaign would confirm the endorsement, nor could a spokesperson for Rosselló be reached.


However, two top Democratic Party officials confirmed that Rosselló will endorse both men — partly due to Democratic Party pressure and also because disgust with President Donald Trump’s controversial and inaccurate statements on the federal government’s lackluster post-Hurricane Maria recovery have proven too much for Rosselló to bear.

“Unless the governor unexpectedly changes his mind, he’s making the right call and standing with the people who stood by Puerto Rico,” said one top Democrat involved with both campaigns.

After picking a fight with Puerto Rican officials over Maria’s death toll, Trump then said he opposed statehood for the island, one of Rosselló’s signature issues. The president’s fellow Florida Republicans split with him over the statehood issue as well as Trump’s death-toll conspiracy.

State Rep. Bob Cortes, a Republican of Puerto Rican descent who represents a Boricua-heavy district in Central Florida, learned of the endorsement from island officials and said Rosselló is making a mistake and turning his back on Gillum's opponent, Ron DeSantis, and Gov. Rick Scott, who is running against Nelson for Senate.

“After so much was done by Rick Scott for Puerto Rico after the hurricane and the relationship they have, this looks like treachery,” Cortes said in reaction in an interview “Rosselló está jugando con fuego y se va a quemar.” Translated from Spanish, Cortes said: “Rosselló is playing with fire and is going to burn.”

Cortes, who has also been critical of the federal government’s response to Maria on the island, said Rosselló is inviting more scrutiny on the failures of the island government’s preparations for and response to Maria under Rosselló.

Polls show Trump is wildly unpopular with Puerto Ricans in Florida, where more than 1.13 million Boricuas live. Exact numbers are hard to find, but as many as 500,000 could be registered to vote out of 13 million active registered voters.

Polls also show that Nelson had been dogged by concerns that his campaign wasn’t doing enough to reach out to Puerto Rican voters while Scott has polled exceedingly well with this crucial bloc of voters ever since he welcomed Hurricane Maria evacuees to Florida. Democrats have pushed back on Scott’s efforts, saying the state mainly gave out federal assistance and that Florida under the governor cut affordable housing funds just as more evacuees were looking for a roof over their head.

Meanwhile, a spate of recent polls suggest Nelson’s standing has started to improve among Hispanic voters. And Democrats hope that the increased attention to voters of Puerto Rican descent — about 70 percent of whom tend to vote Democratic — will help increase their Florida election turnout rates, which have historically been among the poorest in the state in midterms.

No public polling exists to show the effect Rosselló's endorsement might have in Florida. But the media attention in the Puerto Rican-heavy Orlando area should help boost the Democrats' name ID in the community.

Scott had hoped to score Rosselló’s endorsement. Florida’s governor has flown to Puerto Rico eight times since the hurricane and stood side by side with Rosselló. Scott was also endorsed by allies of Rosselló’s: Puerto Rico’s non-voting member of Congress, Jenniffer González-Colón, and the island’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state, Luis G. Rivera-Marin. All three Puerto Rican officials are members of the island’s New Progressive Party.

But González-Colón and Rivera-Marin are also members of the Republican Party and Rosselló is a member of the Democratic Party. His father also endorsed Nelson earlier this year.

Rivera-Marin told POLITICO he has the utmost respect and admiration for Scott. But, he said, Rosselló is still a Democrat.

“There’s a lot of pressure. This is a very important race in the senate,” Rivera-Marin, who wouldn’t confirm or deny Rosselló’s expected endorsements. “We have many conversations that I don’t share.”

Asked how he would he handicap the likelihood of a Rosselló endorsement Monday of either Nelson or Gillum, Rivera Marin demurred.

“On a scale of 1-10, I’ll tell you Rick Scott is a 10 for me,” he said. “Gov. Scott has been outstanding for me and Puerto Rico. And Sen. Nelson, for Puerto Rico, so I’m scoring it below 5.”