By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-29 21:11:52 | Updated at 2024-10-30 23:24:31
1 day ago
Jennifer Lopez will now be joining Vice President Kamala Harris at her Thursday night rally in Las Vegas.
J. Lo, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, had shared a video with Harris detailing her plans for the island, on Sunday afternoon - in the hours before former President Donald Trump's controversial Madison Square Garden rally.
At Trump's event, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage' - prompting widespread backlash from the community.
Part of that backlash has been activating new surrogates for Harris - including Lopez, Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny.
After Hinchcliffe's set went viral, Lopez doubled down on that support in her Instagram story.
Jennifer Lopez (left) will now be joining Vice President Kamala Harris (right) at her Thursday night rally in Las Vegas
On Thursday they'll share a stage together in state that Democrats fear is slipping away - with FiveThirtyEight.com saying Tuesday that Trump has a 51 percent chance of winning the state and Harris a 49 percent chance.
A CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday showed Trump with 48 percent of the support of likely voters in Nevada and Harris with 47 percent.
The last time Nevada voted for a Republican in the presidential race was 2004, however President Joe Biden only won the state by 33,596 votes.
While Hinchcliffe's comments could do far more damage to the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania - where nearly half a million Puerto Ricans live - around 27,000 live in Nevada.
Hinchcliffe also made a more broadly racist jokes about Latinos - which could damage Trump's prospects in Nevada.
The 2020 census put the number of Latinos in Nevada at 890,257 - or 28.7 percent.
'These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do,' Hinchcliffe had said at the MSG rally. 'There's no pulling out.'
'They don't do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country,' he added.
Despite Trump's hardline stance on immigration - and pledge for the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in U.S. history - his campaign had been making inroads with Latino voters.
The CNN poll in Nevada shows Harris with just a one-point advantage - 48 percent to 47 percent - with the voting bloc.
While the tide could turn for the Democratic nominee, she might be running out of time.
Forty-two percent of Nevada's likely voters who were interviewed for the CNN/SSRS said they had already cast a ballot in the 2024 race.
