The stopwatch had reached zero. There was no more time left, only the play was underway. The Chicago Bears won 12-15 at the stadium of the Washington Commanders, the capital’s American football team. Jayden Daniels, the rookie quarterback of the locals (field marshal, they also call him in Latin America), received the ball, but could not find space. He was in his own half and saw no passing options. Finally, from the 35-yard line he threw a pass about 60 yards that, after being patted lightly by other players, was caught by wing Noah Brown in the end zone. “It’s a miracle!” said the CBS commentator. touchdown, victory for the Commanders and… a good omen for Kamala Harris.
What does that play that television repeats over and over have to do with the result of the United States presidential elections? The result of the Commanders’ last home game before the presidential election has turned out, by chance, to be a fairly reliable indicator of who is going to win the elections. It is known as the Redskins rule (the redskins, the team’s previous name, replaced for obvious reasons).
The original rule says that if the Washington team wins its last home game before the election, the presidential election is won by the candidate of the party that occupies the White House. When the Commanders (or the Redskins, for that matter) lose, it is the other party’s other candidate who wins. The rule has been followed in 17 of the 21 presidential elections held since the football team moved to Washington in 1937 (or 19, in the new version where it refers to the popular vote). There’s a bit of a problem for Harris. The rule, which until then seemed almost infallible, has failed in the last three elections, so perhaps the Commanders’ comeback doesn’t bode so well after all.
At the same time that the Commanders achieved their miraculous victory, the Trumpists met at Madison Square Garden in New York, where Trump wanted to receive a mass bath. The Republicans, however, scored an own goal with their list of speakers. As my colleague María Antonia Sánchez Vallejo said, at the massive rally in the Big Apple the Republicans brought comedian Tony Hinchcliffe on stage. There, he denigrated Jews, Palestinians, blacks and Latinos, but, above all, he offended Puerto Ricans by saying that Puerto Rico is “an island of floating garbage.”
Of course, Trump has not stopped spreading xenophobic and racist messages throughout the campaign. The enormous difference is that Puerto Ricans are American citizens and those who reside in any of the 50 States have the right to vote in presidential elections (not so those who live on the island, considered an associated territory, without the right to appoint representatives in the Electoral college). Some six million Puerto Ricans live in the United States and as Paola Nagovitch said here, the insults at Trump’s rally have unleashed a wave of support for Harris, from Bad Bunny to Jennifer Lopez, including the governor of Puerto Rico.
Even worse for the Republicans: Puerto Ricans may turn out to tip the balance in the State of Pennsylvania, the most decisive of the decisive States. My colleague Macarena Vidal Liy was touring the State a few weeks ago and speaking with some members of the Puerto Rican community. Many of them then showed their sympathy for Trump. However, he has spoken to some of them again and they are outraged by the offense launched at Trump’s rally. There are more than half a million Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. If Sunday’s insults move your vote, it could be very expensive for the Republican candidate.
More news about the US elections
Before you go, here are some recommendations of articles that we have published in the last week and that you cannot miss:
Insults against minorities at Trump’s rally set the final stretch of the campaign on fire.The Puerto Rican community can vote when they reside in the United States, and they are very numerous in states such as Florida or New York. But, above all, it is key in Pennsylvania, the largest of the seven hinge states: there it represents around 620,000 inhabitants, out of a total of 13 million.
“I hope you get cancer”: electoral employee, a high-risk job.The conspiracies encouraged by Trump multiply the threats against officials like Bill Gates. Supervisor of a key county in Arizona, leaves his position after a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Journey through the open wounds of the United States.Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa… 4,000 kilometers across the two Americas fought over by Democrat Harris, who aspires to become the country’s first female president, and Republican Trump, whose possible return to the Oval Office scares half the world.
The early vote shows strong mobilization of Republicans in key areas.To what extent does that anticipate any trend for the final result? Nobody knows. In 2020, Trump demonized voting by mail and asked his voters to go to the polls on official election day; This time, however, he is encouraging early voting.
Historical results of the elections in the United States.The United States is the only democratic presidential regime in the world that does not elect its president directly, but through an electoral college, currently of 538 members, that represents the States. With the exceptions of Maine and Nebraska, the winner in a state takes all of its electoral votes. These have been the results of electoral college elections and elected presidents since 1868.
Cubans support Trump, but want to maintain the ‘parole’.Red fervor is increasingly growing in Florida, but the majority does not intend to end the Biden administration’s program that included Cubans since the beginning of 2023, but that already benefited Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans with a legal stay of two years in the country.
The mystery of the Arab vote: a diverse community disappointed with Biden and Harris.The White House’s support for Israel causes a foreseeable flight of votes in Michigan, a State that has traditionally voted Democratic and that is decisive for the final result in November.
