When Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida in September as the democratic presidential nominee, he made a stop in Miami. One of the high profile names by his social-distanced side was Ricky Martin.
“I’ve been supporting Biden forever,” the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” hitmaker says on an upcoming episode of the Variety and iHeart podcast “The Big Ticket.” “I think he is the only option we have and he is great and he has been in politics all his life. This is the moment. We all need to get together and be loud about the course of this nation.”
Martin’s support of Biden also hits close to home. “I am a Latino, gay [and] married to an Arab living in Trump’s America,” he said. “We check all the boxes.”
While Martin predicts that the Latino vote will be a crucial block for a Biden win, he says seeing Latino support for Pres. Donald Trump is “really scary.”
“It is super sad,” he said, adding, “Trumpeters make a lot of noise. And it’s scary to see their enthusiasm but us, we’re doing what’s right, the right way and we’ll see what happens in November. I’m very optimistic.”
As for Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez’s endorsement of Trump earlier this month, Martin dismisses her influence. “Who is that? Next,” he said. “She doesn’t exist. She wasn’t even elected by the people. She’s not part of this conversation.”
Vázquez came into office in August 2019 after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned and his successor Pedro Pierluisi was removed by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Vázquez was secretary of justice at the time and was the next in line in order of succession.
“I think when you have 50 million people voting already, it’s because we are not the only ones concerned about this and for that I am extremely happy,” Martin said. “We just take it one day at a time and we’ve had plans like we might leave the country, but no. We have to stay here and we have to fight for our rights and what we believe.”
The full interview with Martin will be available on “The Big Ticket” on Nov. 4. You can find the “The Big Ticket” at iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.