Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez made her first campaign appearance for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the Craig Ranch Amphitheater in Las Vegas, Nevada, describing it as “the most important stage I’ve ever been on” amid escalating tensions between the campaigns.
The event Thursday night came as both campaigns concentrated efforts in Sun Belt swing states, with Harris and Lopez working to energize voters in Nevada while former President Donald Trump held a rally in Glendale, Arizona.
Lopez addressed recent controversial comments made at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” The singer, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, told the crowd, “It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day, it was every Latino in this country.”
The controversy sparked a series of responses from both campaigns. President Joe Biden’s remarks Tuesday calling Trump supporters “garbage” led to immediate comparisons to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 “deplorables” comment. The White House later modified the official transcript to indicate Biden was referring to a single supporter rather than Trump voters broadly.
Trump responded Wednesday at a Green Bay, Wisconsin rally by appearing in a garbage truck wearing an orange reflective vest. “I don’t know who he is…I know nothing about him,” Trump said of Hinchcliffe, adding, “I love Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico loves me.”
At the Las Vegas rally, Lopez focused on policy issues before addressing the controversy, discussing Harris’ support for extending the child tax credit and implementing a middle-class tax cut. “It’s about helping you get ahead. It’s about you and you and you and you and you. It’s about us. All of us. No matter what we look like, who we love or who we worship or where we’re from,” Lopez said.
Nevada remains a crucial battleground state. FiveThirtyEight.com showed Harris with a 51 percent chance of winning the state compared to Trump’s 49 percent. A CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday indicated Trump leading with 48 percent support among likely voters to Harris’ 47 percent. The state last voted Republican in a presidential election in 2004.
The controversy could have significant implications in battleground states with large Puerto Rican populations. While Nevada has approximately 27,000 Puerto Rican residents, Pennsylvania is home to nearly half a million. The 2020 census recorded 890,257 Latinos in Nevada, representing 28.7 percent of the state’s population.
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada warned about early voting numbers at the rally, stating, “Nevada is falling behind. The Republicans are kicking our a** at the early voting.” According to the CNN poll, 42 percent of likely voters interviewed had already cast their ballots.