MIAMI, Florida (AP) 鈥� Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday said she would work to bring more funds to community banks to help Latino men secure small business loans, while Republican Donald Trump's economic roundtable aimed at Latino voters devolved into a tirade of insults against his opponent.
Harris said in an interview with Telemundo that 鈥渨e need to construct a strong economy that supports the working class.鈥�
鈥淚 know that Hispanic men often have more difficulty securing loans from banks because of their connections and the fact that things aren鈥檛 necessarily set up so that they will qualify," she said in an interview in English that was translated into Spanish. "For that reason, I鈥檓 focused on seeing what we can do to bring more capital to community banks that better understand the community so we can give them that kind of loans.鈥�
In response to Trump's claims that she was a socialist, she said: 鈥淚'm a capitalist. I'm a pragmatic capitalist.鈥�
Trump, meanwhile, described Harris as 鈥渓azy," railed against green energy and talked about 鈥渆xtreme" presidential power during remarks at his golf club in Doral, a Miami suburb.
Insisting President Joe Biden did not need congressional approval to curb illegal immigration, he said: 鈥淎s president, you have tremendous 鈥� it鈥檚 called extreme power. You have extreme power."
Trump also continued to hammer Harris as 鈥渓ow IQ鈥� and calling her 鈥渓azy as hell鈥� for not holding any public events Tuesday. She was in Washington for meetings and was scheduled for TV interviews with Telemundo and NBC after more than two straight weeks of campaigning.
鈥淲ho the hell takes off when you have 14 days left?鈥� he asked.
The Trump and Harris campaigns see what could be an election-deciding opportunity with Latino men, who could swing the outcome in states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada if their traditional support for Democrats erodes. Trump believes he鈥檚 made inroads among Latino men. Harris鈥� team is seeking to shore up support within the same group with the .
The effort sets up a question of whether memories of a Trump presidency or the promise of new policies under Harris will do more to energize Latino voters.
鈥漌e are very confident that these policies resonate because we鈥檝e seen them resonate in speeches and focus groups,鈥� said Matt Barreto, a Harris campaign pollster. 鈥淚t speaks to Latino men in particular about being successful and achieving the American dream.鈥�
In 2020, AP VoteCast found that 9% of voters nationwide identified as Latino, and 63% of them backed Biden in the election. That race was defined broadly by the pandemic that shut down much of the country, whereas this year鈥檚 race has issues such as the economy, immigration, abortion rights and democracy at the forefront.
Harris said she would work to double the number of registered apprenticeships. She is stressing how she would remove college degree requirements for certain federal government jobs and encourage private employers to do likewise. Harris also wants to provide forgivable loans worth up to $20,000 each to 1 million small businesses.
During Trump's event, he sat after his opening remarks as elected officials and business leaders who are Latino praised the economy during his administration, thanking him specifically for tax cuts he signed in 2017.
Later, he claimed that he had recently seen a solar field 鈥渢hat looked like it took up half the desert.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 all steel and glass and wires. And it looks like hell,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou see rabbits, they get caught in it.鈥� Trump often rails against wind power, claiming the turbines 鈥渒ill all the birds鈥� and confuse whales.
At the close of the event, Latino faith leaders prayed over Trump, his head bowed as some placed their hands on his shoulders. Guillermo Maldonado, senior pastor of King Jesus International Ministry, said during the prayer that "there鈥檚 a higher assignment for him to finish with this nation.鈥�
Both campaigns were jockeying for an edge with the increasingly diverse electorate in the closing weeks of the campaign. Harris has also , to whom she also pitched the forgivable loans for small businesses. She went to appeal to younger women, while Trump has to target younger men.
In a close race, the Harris campaign is betting that Latino men are getting more attuned to policy specifics as the election draws closer.
Based on focus groups, Barreto said the Harris campaign found that Latino men in particular wanted access to apprenticeships that could give people without college degrees access to a financially stable career.
The latest Labor Department figures show there are 641,044 registered apprenticeships, an increase from the Trump administration, when apprenticeships peaked in 2020 at 569,311. Doubling that figure, as Harris has proposed, would put the total number of apprenticeships at roughly 1.2 million over four years.
Latino men also expressed a need for access to capital and credit to start companies, as the Treasury Department reported on Oct. 10 that Latino business ownership is up 40% over pre-pandemic levels and could keep climbing with better financing options.
Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will be on Univision鈥檚 鈥淓l Bueno, La Mala, y El Feo,鈥� a syndicated radio show, this week, while Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, will be interviewed this week by Univision鈥檚 nationally syndicated afternoon radio program 鈥淓l Free-Guey Show.鈥� Emhoff will also be interviewed by Alex 鈥淓l Genio鈥� Lucas on Nueva Network Radio.
Trump hopes to convince Latinos that they can trust a fellow businessman such as himself, even as he's also called for the mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally.
鈥淗ispanic people 鈥� they say you can鈥檛 generalize, but I think you can 鈥� they have wonderful entrepreneurship and they have 鈥� oh, do you have such energy. Just ease up a little bit, OK? Ease up,鈥� Trump said at an Oct. 12 event. 鈥淵ou have great ambition, you have great energy, very smart, and you really do like natural entrepreneurs.鈥�
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Boak reported from Washington. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon and Stephany Matat in Miami and Kevin Freking and Alana Durkin Richer in Washington also contributed to this report.
Josh Boak, Jill Colvin And Thomas Beaumont, The Associated Press
