Scott did very well with Cuban-Americans (a majority of whom vote Republican, anyhow, albeit not in such high percentages as during the 1980s or in the 2000 election), but he still would have lost had he not greatly outperformed President Trump (and, to a lesser extent, DeSantis) among Puerto Rican voters. Rick Scott worked hard for the Puerto Rican vote, both before and after Hurricane María (including—and I’m not making this up—running Spanish-language TV ads on a local channel in Puerto Rico during the MLB Playoffs), and it paid off.
Outreach like what he did works. Even if they don’t speak Spanish, other Republican candidates should take note if this.