Ultimate swing voters in the ultimate swing state?
Enrique Vasquez has lost count of how many politicians have visited his
restaurant, La Lechonera del Barrio. Even President Barack Obama dropped in to
eat pork and beans at this small place in a scruffy Orlando neighbourhood, some
distance away from the theme parks that gave the Florida resort city its
worldwide fame.
Mr Vasquez is Dominican, but he reckons that 95% of the clientele in the
restaurant he manages are Puerto Rican. Many are recent arrivals who fled
spiralling crime and economic crisis in the US island territory.
Nearly 300,000 Puerto Ricans now live around the Orlando metropolitan area,
where they represent close to 12% of the population.
As Florida prepares to vote next week in the mid-term elections, state
candidates who a few years ago would campaign for Cuban votes in Miami's Little
Havana now line up for photo-opportunities with Orlando's Puerto Ricans.
These voters might help decide the outcome in this year's tight race for
governor between the Republican incumbent, Rick Scott, and the Democratic
challenger, Charlie Crist. Many expect them to play an even bigger role in two
years, when Florida, could shape the outcome of a national election.
State senator Darren Soto, one of the few Puerto Ricans in the Florida
legislature, agrees that his community will be crucial voters in the nation's
largest swing state. In fact, he thinks they have already started to play that
role.
A volunteer for Mi Familia Vota canvases in an
Orlando neighbourhood
"In 2008, the Sunday before the election, President Obama held a rally in my
district. He could have been anywhere in the country. He chose this area because
we are critical and strategic," he tells the BBC.
Orlando's Puerto Ricans are in the right place to become more influential.
Political analysts repeat, mantra-like, that the key to elections in Florida
lies in the so-called I-4 corridor, named after the highway that bisects the
state from east to west, connecting the metropolises of Orlando and Tampa.
To the north lies the more rural and reliably conservative part of the state,
to the south, the more urban and Democratic-leaning counties. In the middle, the
I-4 corridor, with its explosive population growth, can tip the electoral scale
in either direction.
Every year its service-oriented economy attracts thousands of newcomers, many
from overseas. But electorally, Puerto Ricans are particularly valuable. They
are US citizens and can vote as soon as they move into the state. Moreover, they
are not uniformly Democrats or Republicans, so their political allegiance is up
for grabs.
Susan McManus, a political science professor at the University of South
Florida in Tampa, says that Puerto Ricans relocating to Florida from the US
northeast tend to vote Democrat, while many of those arriving directly from the
island are likelier to vote Republican.
Given the tiny margins deciding many recent elections in this politically
polarised state, whoever captures this vote could have the definitive edge.
Volunteers discuss strategy before knocking on more
doors
But despite their potential influence, many of Orlando's Puerto Ricans do not
bother to vote. Some think it comes down to a lack of familiarity with US
political culture.
"This year, outreach efforts have been more intense," Prof McManus says.
"Some of the campaigning has tapped into the manner in which those campaigns
often take place in Puerto Rico, with lots of buses decorated and blaring
megaphones on top of them."
Mi Familia Vota is a non-partisan group working to increase Hispanic voter
turnout in the Orlando area.
"We have been knocking on doors, making phone calls, sending mail, everything
we can do to help Latinos get out and vote," says Jose Luis Marantes, the
organisation's state director for Florida.
On a recent Monday afternoon, dozens of his volunteers fan out from their
field office into the streets of heavily Hispanic neighbourhoods. They tap into
their smartphones to check and update their databases, leave informational
pamphlets on doorsteps, and campaign, in English and Spanish, trying to convince
local residents of the importance of voting.
Politicians flock to this restaurant to court Puerto
Rican voters
Gladys Guzman's family moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando only a year and a
half ago. She is eager to help in getting the vote out, but is unsure about how
big their impact will be on mobilising the Puerto Rican electorate.
"Some of them say they will vote. Some say they will not."
Back at La Lechonera del Barrio, the Puerto Rican restaurant, a customer
gives his name as "TC" as he tucks into his plate of pulled pork, rice, beans
and plantain. He has lived in the area since 1994.
About the current election, he says, "I really haven't thought much about
it,"
But he does notice politicians are paying more attention to his community.
As the number of Puerto Ricans in Orlando increases, he reasons, "We have to
play a big role in the election, because we are everywhere".
Recently-arrived Puerto Ricans may hold the key to electoral victory in
Florida's I-4 corridor, one of the great barometers of US politics. They are key
to this year's governor's race and could determine how the state will vote in
the 2016 presidential election.
By Luis Fajardo
Ultimate swing voters in the ultimate swing state?
restaurant, La Lechonera del Barrio. Even President Barack Obama dropped in to
eat pork and beans at this small place in a scruffy Orlando neighbourhood, some
distance away from the theme parks that gave the Florida resort city its
worldwide fame.
Mr Vasquez is Dominican, but he reckons that 95% of the clientele in the
restaurant he manages are Puerto Rican. Many are recent arrivals who fled
spiralling crime and economic crisis in the US island territory.
Nearly 300,000 Puerto Ricans now live around the Orlando metropolitan area,
where they represent close to 12% of the population.
As Florida prepares to vote next week in the mid-term elections, state
candidates who a few years ago would campaign for Cuban votes in Miami's Little
Havana now line up for photo-opportunities with Orlando's Puerto Ricans.
These voters might help decide the outcome in this year's tight race for
governor between the Republican incumbent, Rick Scott, and the Democratic
challenger, Charlie Crist. Many expect them to play an even bigger role in two
years, when Florida, could shape the outcome of a national election.
State senator Darren Soto, one of the few Puerto Ricans in the Florida
legislature, agrees that his community will be crucial voters in the nation's
largest swing state. In fact, he thinks they have already started to play that
role.
A volunteer for Mi Familia Vota canvases in an
Orlando neighbourhood
"In 2008, the Sunday before the election, President Obama held a rally in my
district. He could have been anywhere in the country. He chose this area because
we are critical and strategic," he tells the BBC.
Orlando's Puerto Ricans are in the right place to become more influential.
Political analysts repeat, mantra-like, that the key to elections in Florida
lies in the so-called I-4 corridor, named after the highway that bisects the
state from east to west, connecting the metropolises of Orlando and Tampa.
To the north lies the more rural and reliably conservative part of the state,
to the south, the more urban and Democratic-leaning counties. In the middle, the
I-4 corridor, with its explosive population growth, can tip the electoral scale
in either direction.
Every year its service-oriented economy attracts thousands of newcomers, many
from overseas. But electorally, Puerto Ricans are particularly valuable. They
are US citizens and can vote as soon as they move into the state. Moreover, they
are not uniformly Democrats or Republicans, so their political allegiance is up
for grabs.
Susan McManus, a political science professor at the University of South
Florida in Tampa, says that Puerto Ricans relocating to Florida from the US
northeast tend to vote Democrat, while many of those arriving directly from the
island are likelier to vote Republican.
Given the tiny margins deciding many recent elections in this politically
polarised state, whoever captures this vote could have the definitive edge.
Volunteers discuss strategy before knocking on more
doors
But despite their potential influence, many of Orlando's Puerto Ricans do not
bother to vote. Some think it comes down to a lack of familiarity with US
political culture.
"This year, outreach efforts have been more intense," Prof McManus says.
"Some of the campaigning has tapped into the manner in which those campaigns
often take place in Puerto Rico, with lots of buses decorated and blaring
megaphones on top of them."
Mi Familia Vota is a non-partisan group working to increase Hispanic voter
turnout in the Orlando area.
"We have been knocking on doors, making phone calls, sending mail, everything
we can do to help Latinos get out and vote," says Jose Luis Marantes, the
organisation's state director for Florida.
On a recent Monday afternoon, dozens of his volunteers fan out from their
field office into the streets of heavily Hispanic neighbourhoods. They tap into
their smartphones to check and update their databases, leave informational
pamphlets on doorsteps, and campaign, in English and Spanish, trying to convince
local residents of the importance of voting.
Politicians flock to this restaurant to court Puerto
Rican voters
Gladys Guzman's family moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando only a year and a
half ago. She is eager to help in getting the vote out, but is unsure about how
big their impact will be on mobilising the Puerto Rican electorate.
"Some of them say they will vote. Some say they will not."
Back at La Lechonera del Barrio, the Puerto Rican restaurant, a customer
gives his name as "TC" as he tucks into his plate of pulled pork, rice, beans
and plantain. He has lived in the area since 1994.
About the current election, he says, "I really haven't thought much about
it,"
But he does notice politicians are paying more attention to his community.
As the number of Puerto Ricans in Orlando increases, he reasons, "We have to
play a big role in the election, because we are everywhere".
Recently-arrived Puerto Ricans may hold the key to electoral victory in
Florida's I-4 corridor, one of the great barometers of US politics. They are key
to this year's governor's race and could determine how the state will vote in
the 2016 presidential election.
By Luis Fajardo
Ultimate swing voters in the ultimate swing state?
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