Over plates of Puerto Rican food and cups of strong coffee, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) spent Thursday, Sept. 24, in North Philadelphia listening to nearly 40 Latino leaders and elected officials from across Pennsylvania talk about the hardships and struggles in Puerto Rico and the daily lives and needs of families in the Latino community. The roundtable, organized by the UnidosUS Action Fund with Pennsylvania Latino community leaders, was held at the new headquarters of Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) in the Paseo Verde development on North Ninth Street.
«All the Latino leadership in the entire state of Pennsylvania was invited,» said Ray Collazo, a longtime activist in Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community. For Collazo, the room held two generations of history. He knew Jesús Sierra, who founded APM in 1970 with a group of Puerto Rican social activists and Vietnam War veterans. Today his son, Rafael Collazo, a veteran political organizer and leading voice on Hispanic civic engagement, is executive director of the UnidosUS Action Fund. «The meeting brought a lot of old friends together,» Collazo said. «I saw people there that I had not seen in a very long time.»
“The governor asked us about what we proposed to help Puerto Ricans on the island. Recent water and electricity shortages have been a major concern,” Collazo said. «He was also very interested in the daily lives of Puerto Rican families across the state and the region.»
The conversation turned to immigration and what Collazo called the injustices committed against «our Latino brothers and sisters across the country.» Participants also reminded Beshear of the political weight Puerto Ricans carry on the mainland. «Unlike other Latinos who are still in the process of citizenship, we as Puerto Ricans can vote for president in the mainland,» Collazo said. Then Beshear stepped into one of the island’s most personal debates. He told the room he believed Puerto Ricans should decide the question of independence or statehood. The audience applauded that statement. Ray said, “I am glad to hear that political position. That is how it should be.”
Why a Kentucky governor would travel to Philadelphia to hear from Pennsylvania Latinos remains a question. Beshear, a Democrat who has led Kentucky since 2019 and won reelection in 2023, chairs the Democratic Governors Association and is frequently mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. Some in the room saw the visit as groundwork for a national run. Others pointed to his new book.
Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country, published by St. Martin’s Press on Sept. 22, uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to argue that faith should drive compassion, not division. During the same trip, Beshear discussed the book at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Inside APM, though, the mood was warm. «It was a great day, with great conversations and great food,» Collazo said. He left the meeting hopeful about November and beyond. What stayed with him most was the governor’s answer on Puerto Rico’s future. «I was very happy to hear that», he said.
