President Joe Biden claimed that he "was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically."
But the New York Post said only about 2,100 people of Puerto Rican ancestry were living in Delaware when he started his political career 50 years ago. The Post attributed its figure to the Census Bureau.
Biden made his remarks on Monday in Puerto Rico, which is trying to recover from Hurricane Fiona.
"We have a very, in relative terms, a large Puerto Rican population in Delaware relative to our population," Biden said. "We have the eighth-largest black population of the country and between all minorities, we have 20% of our state [that] is minority. And so I — I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically."
The newspaper pointed out that Biden was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. The Post noted that the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its 1970 figures show Delaware had about 2,154 people who were born in Puerto Rican or descended from Puerto Rican parents.
The number of Puerto Ricans in Delaware stood at 4,857 when Biden was serving his second term in the Senate in 1980, the Post said. The state is now 10% Hispanic.
But it is not the first time Biden’s recollection has been hazy. Last year, he said he had visited Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were murdered in 2018.
"I remember spending time at the — you know, going to the — you know, the Tree of Life Synagogue, speaking with the — just," Biden said without finishing the sentence.
Temple officials say he called, but did not actually visit, CNN noted.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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