Biden uses Mexican restaurant speech to tell Latinos flocking to Republicans he ‘desperately needs your help’ and reminds them Trump ‘calls you rapists and drug dealers’

President Joe Biden told Arizona’s Latino voters he “desperately” needs their help in November, reminding them that Donald Trump called them “rapists and drug dealers.”

Biden was not short of words as he courted the key voting bloc that has sided with Trump since the 2020 presidential election.

The president spent time at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenis on Tuesday, chatting with supporters, kissing a baby, taking selfies and reminding voters why they should give him four more years.

Polls show Trump’s standing among Latinos has risen since the last election, with surveys showing him winning more than 40 percent of the Latino vote — a level not seen for a Republican in two decades.

Biden reminded them of what Trump has called them during a two-day campaign trip to Nevada and Arizona to court these voters.

‘These elections are not a referendum on me. It’s an election between me and a man named Trump, and this is a man who talks about certain communities in his own way. In 2016, he called Latinos criminals, drug dealers and rapists. He said immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country,” Biden told supporters at El Portal restaurant in downtown Phoenix.

“You are the reason why I defeated Donald Trump in large part,” Biden said, receiving cheers from the crowd. “I really need you.”

He even brought up running mate Kamala Harris, telling the crowd, “Kamala and I desperately need your help.”

In Arizona, Trump leads Biden by five points Polling average from RealClearPolitics. In Nevada, Trump is six points higher poll average.

In their 2020 contest, Biden won both states by narrow margins. He won Nevada by 2 percent and won Arizona by just 10,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast. It was the first time since 1996 that Arizona voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Latino voters are particularly attracted to Trump. The campaign opens bilingual offices in every state.

President Joe Biden poses for a photo before speaking at a campaign event in El Portal

“I really need you,” President Joe Biden told supporters in Arizona

President Joe Biden impersonates a baby during a campaign event at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix

Latinos make up about one in four eligible voters in Arizona and Nevada.

Yolanda Bejarano, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, said the Biden team needed to do more to talk about the president’s performance.

“I think it’s that we haven’t talked to people about the issues that President Biden has addressed, and that’s what we’re committed to doing,” she told reporters after the president’s event in Phoenix.

She said Latinos were drawn to Trump because “people like to be entertained. And sometimes Donald Trump provides that entertainment. People like to laugh at his gatherings, you know, it’s like going to a circus. They listen to him, he just jokes about things, very, very serious things.”

“We just have to be very, very focused and, you know, make sure that Latinos understand exactly who Donald Trump is and the danger he poses to us.”

Arizona, and especially Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, was the epicenter of the post-2020 election battle after Trump falsely claimed he won the state and his supporters conducted recounts to try to find evidence of fraud (they did they don’t).

Polls show that Donald Trump is making major gains among Latino voters

US President Joe Biden in more casual shoes as he walks to Marine One as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, March 13, 2024

In Phoenix, Biden will discuss his CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which helped boost employment at semiconductor factories in the area.

Arizona will hold its primaries on Tuesday, the day Biden is in the state. Progressives in the state are encouraging a protest vote against Biden over his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Organizers are urging Democrats to vote for Marianne Williamson.

Democrats are also hopeful about efforts in each of those states to put initiatives on the 2024 ballot that would establish a constitutional right to abortion. The party has successfully used the issue to get its voters – especially women – to the polls for the 2022 midterm elections.