Van Jones: Puerto Rican vote ‘lit on fire’ in Pennsylvania 

CNN commentator Van Jones said the Puerto Rican vote has been “lit on fire” in Pennsylvania after a comedian at a former President Trump rally made a joke about the island. 

“There is an energy. There is a surge,” Jones said during CNN’s election coverage. “The Puerto Rican vote by itself has been lit on fire.” 

He cited the Puerto Rican PAC La Brega y Fuerza, saying it was previously “begging for money,” but after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27, donations surged “like wildfire.” 

Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” prompting backlash from an array of Latino celebrities, GOP figures and more. Vice President Harris and Democrats have amplified the remarks, seeing them as driving turnout to the polls.

The three wards in Pennsylvania that contain the highest concentration of Puerto Rican registered voters in the city were already at 79 percent of total 2020 turnout by midday Tuesday, according to the Harris campaign.  

“If you talked to me a week ago, two weeks ago, I was chewing my fingernails down my elbow,” Jones said. “I was just worried.”

Polls in Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. EST.