Republican Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vásquez Garced endorsed President Donald Trump for re-election Monday, saying Trump best represents Puerto Rican interests.
“I ask all Puerto Ricans who are listening to go vote,” Vásquez Garced said during an interview with Telemundo Monday, according to Fox. “They have to go vote, exercise their right to vote and evaluate who has represented being a person who thinks about Puerto Ricans and their needs at the most difficult moment. It is Donald Trump.
Vásquez Garced was set to appear with Trump at a campaign event in Florida last Friday, but the event was canceled after Trump announced he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to The Hill.
The Trump administration announced last month they were sending an additional $13 billion in aid to Puerto Rico to assist continued recovery efforts in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria in 2017.
In 2017, Trump threw paper towels to a crowd of Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria. Vásquez Garced dismissed the criticism, saying “no one is perfect,” according to Fox. (RELATED: Puerto Rico Gov Fires Officials After Residents Raid A Warehouse Full Of Supplies For Maria Victims)
An electronic billboard advertisement paid for by the Florida Democratic Party reading “Never Forget” and showing US President Donald Trump throwing a roll of paper towels is seen along the Florida Turnpike in Kissimmee, Florida, on January 16, 2020. – It shows US President Donald Trump throwing a roll of paper towels to a crowd awaiting aid in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in October of 2017. Some 3,000 people were killed in the natural disaster and many Puerto Rican citizens relocated to central Florida afterward. The billboard ads, in both Spanish and English, are aimed at Latino and Hispanic voters in Florida, which are a significant portion of the state’s population. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP) (Photo by GREGG NEWTON/AFP via Getty Images)
Spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee Angelo Fernández criticized Vásquez Garced’s endorsement, according to the Miami Herald.
“Governor Vásquez Garced continues to fail to put Puerto Ricans first, from her track record after earthquakes shook Puerto Rico earlier this year, to the 29 instances of feticide we have seen in Puerto Rico this year,” he said. “‘Nobody is perfect,’ said Governor Vásquez Garced of Donald Trump, a truly ringing endorsement for a candidate who has treated Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens.”
However, the Republican National Committee said Tuesday that her “endorsement is further proof of the enthusiasm Trump is generating among Hispanics,” according to The Hill.