At a rally of 50 Caribbean Democrats in suburban South Florida this week, the room erupted in stunned laughter when former President Trump repeated a baseless rumor that Haitians steal and eat dogs and cats.
“How can this man be a presidential candidate?” asked Gisselle Louis Nicolas, former president of the Broward County Haitian American Democratic Club, which includes Fort Lauderdale.
Laughter quickly turned to anger, said Lewis-Nicholas, who immigrated to the United States as a child with his parents in the 1960s and said he had seen new and shocking levels of prejudice directed at his fellow countrymen who had long been welcomed with open arms.
“Our best revenge is to go out and vote,” Lewis Nicolas said, adding that Trump’s comments have spurred new efforts to achieve that goal.
Florida is a no-win situation for Democrats: Trump won the state twice, including in 2020, and Gov. Ron DeSantis was smashed for reelection in 2022, with the state leaning Republican ever since.
But it was already considered a battleground, and recently it emerged that Trump was trailing Vice President Kamala Harris by 2 to 6 percentage points. That, along with a potential abortion rights ballot initiative that could draw in liberal voters, offered some glimmers of hope that Democrats could at least be competitive and perhaps even win in lower-ranked districts.
The state’s Haitian-American population is estimated at 2,000, the largest in the country, and votes primarily Democratic.
Haitian immigrants who fled economic and political instability in South Florida have gone on to occupy many seats on city and county commissions, the state legislature and the federal legislature. Haitian doctors and nurses staff hospitals in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas. Many of the new immigrants take demanding jobs that native-born Floridians would turn down.
“Let’s be clear: Haitians and other immigrants came to this country with education, hard work, and a determination to build a better life not just for themselves but for all of us,” Rep. Sheila Charfilas McCormick, a Haitian-American Democrat from South Florida, said in a statement. “They contribute to our economy, enrich our culture, and strengthen our communities. Trump’s rhetoric is a distraction from the real challenges we face, and we will not be fooled.”
Haitian-American voters are estimated at between 100,000 and 300,000, but Miami-based Democratic pollster Fernand Amandie said they probably make up less than 1% of the electorate. Many voters were already inclined to elect Harris, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who has led the Biden administration’s Caribbean relations policy.
“In Florida, the state and the presidency were decided by 537 votes, so any group can influence the election and the presidential election,” Amandi said, referring to the 2000 election in which Florida was narrowly won. “I don’t see that happening in 2024 either.”
Amandi said it was “possible, but probably unlikely” that Florida could flip to the Democrats if Harris won by a landslide at the national level.
“The media is attempting to distract the American people from the very real issues affecting the residents of Springfield, Ohio,” Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement, blaming a “sudden influx of immigrants” for rising rents, tensions in schools and public safety incidents.
Trump won Florida in 2020 after he called Haiti a “shithole.”
That comment hurt too.
“We see this film repeated every time there’s a tragedy that forces immigrants to flee their home countries,” said Gepsy Morissette Metellus, co-founder and executive director of the San La Haitian Neighborhood Center, a community resource center in North Miami.
Morissette Metellus said she was particularly concerned about Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio, most of whom are in the U.S. legally and came to the area because they have jobs and a growing support network of fellow immigrants, according to reports circulating among the Haitian immigrant population.
Morissette Metellus said local residents are outraged and are considering what action to take, but she is certain about one thing.
“People are always interested in these elections, and the Haitian-American community is such a dedicated voting base that people don’t miss an election,” she said. “They care.”
