NBC Latino: Rubio as vice presidential running mate could help Trump win election

Selecting Sen. Marco Rubio, the Spanish-speaking son of Cuban immigrants, as a vice presidential running mate could help former President Donald Trump tap into the Latino vote, according to a new report published by NBC Latino.

The story, recently published by the Spanish speaking affiliate of NBC acknowledged that while the race remains unpredictable, selecting the longtime, experienced Florida senator could be a big plus to Trump’s bid to get reelected.

Rubio, who is the Cuban American son of a hotel maid and bartender, has a success story that could appeal to a large part of the Hispanic American community and even non-Latino voters who believe in the American dream, the network asserted.

As the country waits with bated breath to see who Trump will select as his running mate, media reports have been analyzing the former president’s chances, acknowledging that the Republican has gained more Hispanic support this year.

Trump only garnered about a third of the Hispanic vote in 2020, which was an increased from his 2016 presidential run.

The article interviewed analysts and various Hispanic Americans who gave their take on Rubio and how they would most likely respond to a Trump-Rubio ticket.

Giancarlo Sopo, a communication strategist who worked on Trump’s Hispanic media strategy in 2020 said he believes Rubio’s ability to speak fluently in Spanish could have great appeal to a larger Latino audience even outside the Cuban American community.

“Republicans are making big gains with English-dominant Latinos; where they tend to struggle more is with the Hispanics whose primary sources of news are Spanish-language media outlets,” Sopo told NBC.

Although Trump captured more Hispanic voters in 2020, Republicans across the board did not do as well, said Bernard Fraga, an Emory University political science professor who wrote a book about the subject called, “The Turnout Gap.”

Democrats had a 40 point advantage among Hispanics who read and watch news in Spanish, but only a 13-point advantage with those who get news in English, he said, based on an October 2022 poll conducted by Bienvenido, a Texas based conservative Hispanic group. 

At the very least, a Trump-Rubio ticket could motivate some Hispanics who might otherwise abstain to come out and vote Republican this time, Fraga explained.

In Trump and Rubio’s home state of Florida, more than half of Hispanic voters supported for Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2022 midterms elections. I

Two years prior, in 2020, Trump got garnered only 46% of the Sunshine State’s Latino vote, according to figures collected by The Associated Press.

According to statistics, 36.2 million Hispanics are eligible to vote this year, a number that continues to grow.

In October 2023, ADN America reported that one million Hispanics were turning 18 and becoming voter eligible every year. The report also indicated that the number of Hispanic eligible voters has grown by five million since 2018.

“For Rubio, it’s a story of mobilizing Latino Republicans. He’s not going to convert a lot of people, but he might build even more enthusiasm and make Republicans’ jobs even easier in terms of convincing Latinos that the party cares about them,” Fraga said. 

Former Republican turned independent Jason Villalba, who serves as chair and CEO of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, said the Florida senator could also make the ticket more appealing for some Republicans who are not in the America First camp.

“If Rubio is on that ticket, it gives me some comfort, because I know that even with the MAGA veneer Rubio has to wear, he certainly is a thoughtful, articulate presence on that ticket that could resonate with some folks,” Villalba said. 

Air Force veteran and optician Manuel Tapia, 54, who lives in the battleground state of Arizona is one of those voters. While he already had plans to vote for Trump, he emphasized that “it means a great deal” to have a Latino on the ticket with the former president. 

“I think the community and the whole country will be in better hands,” he told NBC “They can combine their beliefs and their upbringing and come together and make something better for everybody, not just one-sided,” he said of a Trump-Rubio ticket. 

Some other Hispanics said it may not have as much impact as non-Hispanics may suspect.

The Hispanic news component of the national news network interviewed some younger voters who said that just because Rubio was on the ticket did not mean they would necesarrily they would vote for him—even if it gave them a sense of Hispanic pride to see another Latino in The White House.

Marcel Lopez, a 20 year old Mexican American student at Arizona State University said it would be “cool” to have Hispanics “up there, you know, closer and closer to the presidential spot. I mean, the vice president is as close as you get without actually being president,” but then conceded while it would be “neat,” he added, “but is that going to affect my vote? Probably not.” 

NBC also spoke to Dina Ramirez-Crump, 50, a mammography technician also a Mexican American from Arizona who said that a Rubio presence on the Trump ticket would not sway her from voting for President Biden and argued it probably won’t persuade other Hispanics either.

She voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden in 2020.

Still, Rubio was one of the Republican senators who voted to certify Biden’s election on Jan. 6, 2021, despite Trump’s frustration with the certification process and his insistence he was the victor.

Rubio once called Trump’s plans for mass deportations “unrealistic,” but recently told NBC News that he supports Trump’s promise to engage in what would become the largest mass deportation in U.S. history with law enforcement and military assistance. 

Some Democrats have expressed concerns about a Trump-Rubio ticket.

Michael La Rosa, a native Pennsylvanian who worked for Jill Biden, recently conceded in a New York Times opinion article  that Rubio is the Republican vice presidential pick who concerns him the most, because he would be able to tap into cultural pride and transcend ideological and partisan differences.

Tapia, the Air Force veteran turned optician in Arizona , said he thinks Rubio would help the Republican ticket. 

“I think that when people realize that this gentleman is coming in to help Trump,” he said, “it’s going to make a huge difference.”

Trump is expected to make his vice presidential selection soon and announce his choice at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week.