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The traditional Cinco de Mayo event that piles Latino VIPs and administration allies into the White House provided its usual buzz of catch-ups with old friends and selfies with celebrities, including Marvel\u2019s Xochitl Gomez<\/strong> and Ted Lasso<\/em>\u2019s Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/strong> But it was also a laid-back affair, due in part to the muted feeling from Democrats in attendance who weren\u2019t exactly feeling bullish about Joe Biden<\/strong>\u2019s chances<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Few conversations better reflected this state of downbeat vigilance than those in the Rose Garden, where multiple Latino Democrats expressed fears that Senator Marco Rubio<\/strong> could upend the dynamics of the election if chosen as Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s vice presidential nominee.<\/p>\n To be sure, there is one major obstacle: the fact that Rubio and Trump both reside in Florida. (The 12th Amendment of the Constitution prevents electors from voting for a president and vice president who live in the same state without losing that state\u2019s electoral votes.) In theory, Rubio could get around this simply by moving, which, as Marc Caputo<\/strong> notes<\/a>, could open up a Pandora\u2019s box of lawsuits that Rubio would have to fend off. But the mere notion of the first Latino vice president being a Cuban American Republican is enough to make Hispanic Democrats reach for the Tums.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be the first major Latino to be nominated to the second-highest office in the land,\u201d one Cinco de Mayo attendee said. \u201cThat would be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRubio is normal,\u201d a second White House guest said, suggesting the senator could help the former president connect with a much broader electorate. \u201cHe allows Trump to make his case to Latinos directly, in a way that he himself cannot do.\u201d<\/p>\n The harsh reality for Biden\u2019s reelection campaign is that the president needs more goodwill among Latinos\u2014a lot more<\/a>. Polls suggest<\/a> he is stronger with Spanish-speakers than Hispanics who predominantly speak English. That is likely why the president recently brokered<\/a> a relationship reset with Univision, America\u2019s largest Spanish-language network, which offered him a lengthy sit-down after the network gifted Trump with a much-criticized softball interview<\/a> in November. But a Rubio vice presidential nomination could throw a big wrench in Biden\u2019s Spanish-language-media forays, providing Trump with a weapon he\u2019s never had before: a bilingual, bicultural MAGA minister able to seamlessly switch from English to Spanish, sharing the campaign\u2019s message directly with voters.<\/p>\n Carlos Trujillo,<\/strong> who served in the US Department of State under Trump, called Rubio\u2014whom he has known for more than a decade, with both having been in the world of Florida Republican politics\u2014\u201cexceptionally qualified\u201d to be vice president. \u201cHe gives President Trump an ability to reach out more aggressively to the Hispanic community,\u201d he said, adding that polling shows Republicans performing better with Latinos and that Rubio \u201cwidens those margins because he would be the only person onstage who could speak native Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe can speak policy relatably, both in English and Spanish, with zero lag, zero drop-off,\u201d echoed Jorge<\/strong> Bonilla<\/strong>\u2014a longtime conservative watchdog of networks like Telemundo and Univision, who now hosts a radio show on Radio Libre 790 in Miami, Florida. \u201cIn essence, he\u2019s the apex predator of elected officials\u2014no one else can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubio, who is reportedly on Trump\u2019s VP short list\u2014though is not as short as his Trump-given nickname<\/a> might suggest\u2014recently took to NBC News\u2019 Meet the Press<\/em> with Kristen Welker<\/strong> to show Trump proof of concept: He refused<\/a> to commit to accepting the 2024 election results and touted debunked voter-fraud claims, including that liberal groups were buying votes<\/a> in Georgia for $10 a vote and that hundreds of illegal drop boxes<\/a> were used in Wisconsin in 2020. All of this rang alarm bells among Latino Democrats and progressive leaders, who fear that the senator could saturate Univision\u2019s and Telemundo\u2019s airwaves with similar lies as Trump\u2019s running mate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know disinformation is already pervasive, especially targeting the Latino community in the US, and something Rubio could do is continue to misinform the community,\u201d said Sindy Benavides,<\/strong> the president and CEO of Latino Victory Project, which works to elect Latino Democrats. Benavides, who was at the Cinco de Mayo event, also noted that Rubio\u2019s selection would send a clear message of the importance of the Latino vote, while also showing that \u201cTrump is pandering to the Latino community.\u201d<\/p>\n Although securing the vice presidential nomination would be a high point of Rubio\u2019s political career, it could come with considerable personal and professional costs. One source with knowledge of Rubio\u2019s thinking stressed that the senator is mulling over how the move could impact his family, as well as his duties in Congress, where he holds a privileged position as vice chair of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence\u2014and could help Trump from his Senate perch, should the ex-president win.<\/p>\n There are also reasons for Rubio to be concerned about falling out of Trump\u2019s good graces. Kristian Ramos,<\/strong> a Democratic strategist working with the Biden administration to sell its economic record, pointed to Trump\u2019s handling of January 6 when reports showed Mike Pence<\/strong> was in serious danger from pro-Trump rioters. \u201cI don\u2019t know why Rubio would want that job,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cThe last guy who was his vice president, he almost got killed.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the Cinco de Mayo attendees, who were noshing on steak tostadas, ceviche, and guacamole, there was also another uncomfortable topic of discussion: whether Rubio, in contrast to a white man running mate like Pence, would serve as a more difficult debate opponent for Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a skilled debater and he\u2019s a man of color, so he brings something different to a debate with Kamala Harris,\u201d a fourth attendee said. \u201cA unique thing is, after the debate, he could then go talk on Univision about how he did. That ability to speak to voters directly in Spanish will always hurt us way more than a white guy would.\u201d<\/p>\n Trujillo, for his part, blamed Democrats for putting themselves in a position that would allow Rubio to be such a major threat in a debate. \u201cIt would be great if the party of, quote, unquote, \u2018inclusivity\u2019 could speak Spanish and defend their views. I don\u2019t know anyone on their farm team who can,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been no bigger disastrous policy than their border policy. Kamala disappeared as border czar. What ever happened to immigration reform?\u201d<\/p>\n However, Maria Cardona,<\/strong> a CNN commentator and Democrat close to the White House, struck a different tone, arguing that Harris would eat Rubio\u2019s lunch in a televised cage match. \u201cHis biggest obstacle, when it gets down to brass tacks,\u201d she said, \u201cis he is going to have to defend the extremism of dirty, disgusting MAGA politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Cardona noted that the White House and the Biden campaign are not afraid of Rubio as Trump\u2019s VP pick because he betrayed his own principles on issues like immigration and doesn\u2019t have a relevant impact on Latino communities that are outside of Florida and predominantly Mexican American. \u201cMarco Rubio has no connection to Latino communities, for example, in the Southwest, in Arizona and Nevada, and they certainly do not see him as one of their own,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n