Miami Republican billionaire Mike Fernandez is donating “over” $2 million to help Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The money is intended to “focus on Latino outreach and registration in Florida,” according to an email Fernandez sent Tuesday obtained by the Miami Herald. It’s unclear which specific group would get his donation.
Fernandez, a top Jeb Bush donor in the GOP primary, formally endorsed Clinton over Donald Trump earlier this month.
Fernandez, who gave $3 million to Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise, wrote that he’s never met the Democratic nominee and she’s far from a perfect candidate. But he added he can’t “support a Party I no longer recognize.”
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“I specially call on all Latinos to reject a man who encourages violence against you,” Fernandez wrote.
Hispanics make up about 15 percent of Florida’s electorate. Polls show Latinos strongly favoring Clinton, though not yet at the level that they did President Barack Obama. Democrats are focused on registering and turning out liberal-leaning Puerto Ricans in the Orlando area.
Fernandez urged fellow Cuban Americans to reject Trump. The donor is a prominent supporter of Obama’s reengagement policy with Cuba.
“This man is taking you and America down the same path of disappointment that you have lived for 60 years,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez, a healthcare magnate from Coral Gables, has been fighting Trump for months, writing Miami Herald op-eds and placing ads in several newspapers. Trump threatened to sue Fernandez over one of them but never has.
Fernandez said last year if Trump won the GOP nomination, he would back Clinton instead. He told a Herald reporter who asked about a potential Clinton donation in August that Democrats didn't “need” any more money.
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