Central Florida's Puerto Ricans want voices heard
When President Barack Obama makes the first official presidential visit to Puerto Rico in 50 years on Tuesday, he'll also be appealing to a powerful bloc of voters thousands of miles away: the 4.6 million Puerto Ricans on the mainland.
Nearly one in five of those Puerto Ricans — more than 847,000 — live in Florida, up 75 percent in the past decade, according to census figures. The growth rate is even more rapid in Central Florida, where 300,000 now live.
"The phenomenal growth of the Puerto Rican community in the I-4 corridor has not been missed by this White House," said Andrés López, a San Juan attorney whom the White House appointed to the Democratic National Committee. "They're keenly aware that this pivotal constituency can very well decide the outcome of the next presidential election."
Now, Puerto Ricans are seeking to emerge as the next political force in Florida, much as Cuban-Americans did two decades ago.
"This is the moment for us," said Betsy Franceschini, a Puerto Rican who became Hispanic outreach director for Central Florida for the Florida Democratic Party this spring. "Both political parties are watching very closely."
So far, though, the influx of Puerto Ricans — who, as U.S. citizens, are eligible to register to vote — hasn't been reflected in elected offices. There is only one Puerto Rican in the Florida Legislature: state Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando. None represents Florida in Congress, and only a few hold local office.
Now, as local governments and the Legislature begin work to redraw the districts of everyone from county commissioners to legislators to members of Congress in time for the 2012 elections, Puerto Rican activists are trying to get those districts to favor the election of Hispanics.
"We're going to have to fight for it," said Emilio Perez, a former president of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida. "And we're ready."
Puerto Ricans make up 13 percent of the population of Orange County, 27 percent of Osceola County and 8 percent of Seminole. Those are far and away the highest concentrations in the state.
Most cluster along what Puerto Rican political observers call the "State Road 417 corridor," a swath that runs from north Osceola through east Orange to south-central Seminole.