While Democrats have traditionally enjoyed stronger support from Latino and Hispanic voters than their Republican counterparts, Trump has appeared to make inroads with the demographic in polls, threatening a key base that Harris likely needs to overcome the former president in the election. That’s one reason she spent part of her Sunday swing through Philadelphia visiting a local Puerto Rican restaurant and releasing videos on social media about her vision for the US island territory. Nearly 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania.

But those close to the Puerto Rican community here say it was the juxtaposition of that outreach with the incendiary remarks at Trump’s rally that could prove even more important than Harris’ plans.

“We’re going to kick their ass,” Lozada said. “People are insulted. People are angry. People are hurt. People don’t believe that someone asking them to vote for him would allow such behavior on a national platform.”

Trump has long used inflammatory rhetoric toward Hispanics and Latinos. When he was president, Trump drew the ire of many in the Puerto Rican community for his handling of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017, and his delays in getting aid to the territory. However, he won some voters back with his economic message and the passage of time.

But there was some evidence that Sunday’s comments, made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during an opening act at the rally in Madison Square Garden, which also denigrated Jews and black Americans, had spread.

Kenny Perez, 32, is a Philly resident who works at Freddy and Tony’s, the Puerto Rican restaurant Harris visited on Sunday. He missed her visit but said she plans to vote for Harris after not voting in the last election. It’s the first time, he said, he felt he deserved it. Perez said she hopes she will make history as the first female president and fulfill her pledge to help Latinos.

He didn’t consider Trump beforehand, but said he immediately saw the rallying remarks while scrolling through TikTok Sunday night. He was aware that Trump had been endorsed by Puerto Rican artists Anuel AA and Justin Quiles, but believed that allowing the comedian’s remarks under his banner would undermine that support.

“I said this guy is crazy,” Perez said. “I couldn’t believe it, because how are you going to say something like that at a Trump rally in New York? Like, this doesn’t work. I think it’s going to decrease his Hispanic vote.”

The Trump campaign told The Associated Press that the joke did not reflect his or the campaign’s views. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said at a rally in Wisconsin that he didn’t see the joke and “maybe it’s a bad racist joke. . . maybe it isn’t.”

“I won’t comment on the details of the joke, but I think we need to stop being so offended by every little thing in the United States of America,” Vance concluded.

A Republican strategist who previously worked on Hispanic outreach for Trump also downplayed the idea that the comments would make a difference.

“I don’t think a wrong stand-up comedy act moves the needle,” Giancarlo Sopo he wrote on X. “Hispanics are much more offended by food prices, and our culture just isn’t PC.”

After Trump’s remarks, Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican music superstar, shared a video of Kamala Harris talking about her plans for the island and community to her 45 million followersas well as other Puerto Rican artists with large followings.

Organizers say they believe the comments and backlash against them had an immediate impact, especially so close to the election.

“I think we’re going to find that yesterday is going to be a pivotal day in the campaign,” said former Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat who has been polling Latino voters in Pennsylvania for months with outside groups and is also , a supporter of the Harris campaign. . “So that’s a gift that will keep on giving until Election Day, because young people will say, ‘I’m going to do something,’ which will be my message (in response), ‘Do something.’ ‘”

Karen Rodriguez, a local activist who founded the group The People for Puerto Rico, said she has met Latinos in Pennsylvania who are intrigued by Trump or not interested in voting. she says there are many are facing severe economic hardships and concerns about safety and security in their neighborhoods, and some believe Trump personally sent the stimulus checks to which he attached his signature during the pandemic, which were actually passed by Congress. But she said the comments at the rally resonated with everyone she knows.

“I can’t even put into words how offended I am,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not the only one. . . . That comment went down like a bomb, and the knee-jerk reaction from the Puerto Rican diaspora was immediate, and it was intense.”

The reaction was not limited to Philadelphia.

Miguel Fuentes, 74, owner of San Juan Market in the South End, said Hinchcliffe’s remarks were not surprising given Trump’s past discriminatory comments against people of color.

“It speaks volumes for what Trump thinks about us,” said Fuentes, who was born in Puerto Rico and went to college in Boston, as he placed bags of chips on the shelves.

Massachusetts state senator Adam Gomez, who in 2020 became the first Puerto Rican elected to the Massachusetts Senate, called Hinchcliffe’s comments “inflammatory,” “racist” and “an attack on all Latinos.”

But there was also evidence Monday that not everyone blamed Trump for the comments.

Stopping at Freddy and Tony’s for some food, Philadelphia resident Venus Elias, 41, said she has been a longtime Trump supporter because she believes he helps low-income Americans and disadvantaged. She said she was in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria and credits Trump with getting help to the island. She said she doesn’t follow the news closely, but believes Harris “came out of nowhere” to speak in her district and did nothing as vice president. She deleted a comedian’s words that didn’t come directly from the former president when they were told to her.

“It was probably somebody putting words in his mouth like always, people don’t like him,” Elias said. “I don’t think he would say that because when I was in Puerto Rico, he helped.”

Globe staff correspondent Rachel Umansky-Castro and Samantha J. Gross contributed to this report.

Tal Kopan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow a @talkopan.