A sea of Puerto Rican flags outside the US Capitol this morning. I’ve never quite seen anything like it. Thousands here for the #unitymarchforpuertorico to call on the rest of America to help the island. pic.twitter.com/jOlo0qoVvy
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) November 19, 2017
The Republican Party forced Donald Trump on the rest of us; now it looks like he’ll destroy the Republican Party in return…
It would be fitting if the Trump administration's screw-ups helping Puerto Rico screwed up the GOP in Florida. https://t.co/YoWBrZ16yT
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) November 20, 2017
In the wish lists of Democratic strategists, one imagines the arrival of tens of thousands of Democratic-leaning voters to Florida, seemingly overnight, ranks pretty high.
Two months after Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island, new data suggests that’s exactly what’s happened.
Figures on school enrollment provided to CNN from the Florida Department of Education suggest that well over 50,000 Puerto Ricans will have moved to Florida and made it their residence heading into the midterm election next year.
These voters are likely to be strong Democrat supporters, as an analysis by Dan Smith, a University of Florida professor, found that heavily-Puerto Rican districts only gave 15 to 35% support to Trump…
“The demographic change to Florida has the potential to affect Federal and state elections,” said Michael McDonald, professor of political science at the University of Florida, who maintains the United States Election Project. When the 2020 Census is released, continued population growth in the areas where Puerto Ricans live will likely mean more districts at the state and Congressional levels are drawn favorably for Democrats, he added.
Several news articles show that already more than 150,000 people have moved to Florida from Puerto Rico. But those figures are likely too high, say experts following the migration. Numbers in that range are often provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management but only count travel through Florida airports from Puerto Rico. They do not show the number of people who have moved to Florida and settled there, which is more important to understanding who will vote there…
Texas is getting a lot of migrants from the island, too.
Of course I’d much rather all these people didn’t have to suffer needlessly because the current Oval Office occupant is a selfish prick. But organizing desperate voters to get what they need from an unresponsive government is one of the Democratic Party’s best skill sets…
.@Lin_Manuel: Normally my Twitter is puppies and rainbows and song lyrics… but I didn’t have any words left for the president responding the way he did. Call me crazy, but I’m used to presidents uniting us in the face of natural disasters #AMJoy #PuertoRico #PuertoRicoUnityMarch pic.twitter.com/1rI5WeMAKW
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) November 19, 2017
.@TIME you have to consider The People of Puerto Rico as Person of the Year. Why? Puerto Rican’s were patient in adversity, hopeful, compassionate to each other, where others saw disrepair they saw opportunity… ..#PuertoRicoSeLevanta
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) November 19, 2017