Central Florida's Puerto Rican Population Gets National Attention, Could Change National Politics

Osceola County Commissioner John "Q." Quinones. The first Republican of Puerto Rican ancestry elected to the Florida House of Representatives.

One of the distinct characteristics of Central Florida is our vibrant and ever growing Puerto Rican population.  In Osceola County where the population has tripled over the past twenty years has seen its Puerto Rican population boom, Hispanics now make up almost half of the county's population, and a large majority of that Hispanic population is Puerto Rican.  A recent story on NPR's Morning Edition focused on this growing Central Florida population and why Puerto Rico and Orlando seem so connected.  The story states that Florida now surpasses New York as the primary destination for Puerto Ricans coming to the US.  An interview Osceola County Commissioner John Quinones is featured in the story along with sound bites from area business owners and citizens.

This past November the island voted in a highly controversial measure to support Puerto Rican statehood.  The issue of statehood though is as important to Florida as it is to Puerto Rico itself as we are the closest state to the territory, separated only by the island of Cuba. 

In an interview with NBCLatino Alfonso Aguilar, the Executive Director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, lays out how this issue is Florida issue; "What is changing the dynamic dramatically are not the voters in Puerto Rico, but the voters in Florida.  Sixty-seven percent of the Puerto Rican electorate in Florida is for statehood." He goes on to explain what this means for national politics and how winning the support of Puerto Rico could go either of other the two major US political parties.

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