PROVIDENCE — Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos is not on the ballot this year, but she has been campaigning to gather votes for Joe Biden in both Las Vegas and Philadelphia — and on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
She has, in fact, become one of the president’s biggest fans on social media, posting this message just days after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump: “Joe Biden is the leader we need right now to defend our democracy!! Please retweet!!” And last Sunday: “Please tell the President we stand behind him. #TeamBiden.”
Where has she been? Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 29 and Las Vegas on Saturday, June 1.
Why these events? Matos, who describes herself as “Afro-Latina,” explains that she was invited to both events by the Biden-Harris campaign to mobilize voters of color from swing states.
In Pennsylvania, she attended a meeting with the president and vice president and conducted Spanish-language interviews with Telemundo and Univision affiliates.
In Las Vegas, she attended a block party outside the Doolitle Community Center along with U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, U.S. Representatives Steven Horsford and Maxine Waters, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and several other local officials. She also did an English-language interview with a local radio station.
Why them?
Matos says she has been active in both the National and Democratic Lieutenant Governors Associations and believes she is the “first” Afro-Latina elected statewide.
The first time the Biden campaign reached out was to Philadelphia: “They did an event to engage Black voters, Black voters for Biden. … While I was in Philly, I also did some media, specifically Hispanic media … to talk about the importance of getting the Black vote, the Latino vote, active and engaged in this election.
“Then they tried a second time with Nevada, one of the states where the chances of success are still uncertain. [and] has a large, strong black population and also a Hispanic population.”
At each stop she gave her campaign speech: “The short version is that President Biden and Vice President Harris [have] delivered for the American people.”
She cites the promises that have been kept “to give us relief from student debt…, to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill [which] Trump promised and failed to deliver… and made sure our medical bills didn’t count against our credit scores… So every promise they made, they delivered.[ed] on that.
“That’s part of my message,” she said. The other part, she said, is to remind “new immigrants” — since she considers herself an immigrant from the Dominican Republic — and “the immigrants who have been here for generations that this is a great country.”
“I think new immigrants can play an important role this year in reminding people what it’s like to have to leave your country and flee a bad government.”
The debate
Most Rhode Island Democrats heading to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month have been advised by state party chair Liz Beretta-Perik not to speak to the media in order to present a “united front” at all times, according to one delegate at the June 25 meeting.
Matos is not a delegate to Congress.
When asked what she thought of Biden’s performance during the debate, Matos told The Journal on Tuesday, “The first 30 minutes, like everybody else, I was very concerned,” but “I think one of the things I think got lost after he got his message across is how much Trump lied during that debate.”
For the sake of completeness, several news organizations have identified misstatements and exaggerations from both candidates.
But Matos said the media has not paid enough attention to all the lies he is spreading. [Trump] said in those 90 minutes. I know, it was a really tough 90 minutes, but that doesn’t take away from the work that the president has done in the [last] three and a half years.”
Is she worried about his age, his health? Simple answer: no.
“What happened in the debate was unfortunate,” but as a candidate who endured the grueling preparation — and stress of the debate stage — during her ill-fated race for an open congressional seat last year, she said, “I have a lot of sympathy for him. … I saw him at that stage, I could identify with a lot of what happened. Ordinary Americans don’t have that experience.
“But ultimately I believe the people, particularly the Democrats … voted for him. We had the opportunity to choose someone else, and we chose him and he is our candidate.”
This article originally appeared in The Providence Journal: Could Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos be Biden’s biggest fan in Rhode Island?
