ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A seemingly endless stream of candidates and their surrogates has ensured the Lehigh Valley lived up to its battleground billing this election cycle.
Actress Rosie Perez was the latest in that series.
Perez stumped Friday in downtown Allentown for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Alongside the actress were Mayor Matt Tuerk, City Council President Cynthia Mota and Make the Road PA organizers.
Perez, a proud Puerto Rican, slammed comments made at former President Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday night.
She said she jumped on the Harris campaign trail after Trump’s rally in New York City to implore Latino voters to get themselves and everyone they know to the polls.
“I don't have to be here, but I have to be here."Actor Rosie Perez on campaigning for VP Kamala Harris on Friday in Allentown
“I don't have to be here, but I have to be here,” Perez said, calling comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments about Latinos “vile,” “disgusting” and “hurtful.”
Tuerk on Friday slammed Trump's response, saying the former president “downplayed” the racist remarks instead of denouncing them.
“You can't talk about Puerto Rico like that,” Tuerk said. He said Trump “abandoned” the island amid hurricane recovery efforts during his term in office.
Second actor to make Allentown stop
Perez, who starred in the movies “It Could Happen to You" and “White Men Can’t Jump” and now is on the Netflix series "Your Honor," is the second Hollywood actor to hit Allentown this week.
Martin Sheen — who played the president on TV's "The West Wing" — spoke in support of Harris on Tuesday, blocks from Center City, where thousands of Trump supporters were in a buoyant mood ahead of his rally.
Sheen, whose given name is Ramón Estévez, rebuked Trump and his surrogates for their speeches at Sunday night’s rally in New York City before saying what many are saying: “What happens here will determine the fate of the U.S. Senate and the White House.”
Sheen on Tuesday night rallied in Scranton with three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey as he bids to fend off a challenge from Republican Dave McCormick.
Around the same time in Allentown, Trump told a packed crowd at the PPL Center that Americans “stand on the verge of the four greatest years of our nation’s history” amid an all-out attack on his Democratic opponents and the media.
He accused Democrats of working to rig the election and lying about crime rates and the U.S. economy.
Standing in the heart of downtown Allentown — a city where most residents are Hispanic, including more than 33,000 Puerto Ricans — Trump promised supporters “this horrible migrant invasion” would end if he’s re-elected.
More campaign stops coming
“Hamilton” creator and Puerto Rican star Lin-Manuel Miranda and Harris’ sister, Maya, headlined a campaign party Wednesday night in south Bethlehem.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild is scheduled to rally Friday night with hundreds of union workers at the United Auto Workers Local 677 office on Mack Boulevard in Allentown.
The leaders of four unions — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the American Federation of Teachers; the National Education Association; and the Service Employees International Union — are due to join Wild.
Vice President Harris will rally supporters Monday in Allentown, her campaign confirmed Friday, with details to be announced.Campaign announces
And the Democratic presidential nominee is set to make one final stop in the Lehigh Valley before the end of her truncated campaign.
Harris will rally supporters Monday in Allentown, her campaign confirmed Friday, with details to be announced.
She’s also scheduled to make stops in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on the eve of Election Day.
