Potential presidential candidate Jeb Bush addressed a university in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, reiterating his support for Puerto Rico statehood while challenging his colleagues in the Republican Party to make a stronger effort to win over Latino voters.

Speaking in both English and Spanish during a campaign appearance at the Universidad Metropolitana de Cupey, the former Florida governor talked about his longtime advocacy to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. As of now, it remains a U.S. territory, but residents are recognized as U.S. citizens by birth.

"Puerto Rican citizens, U.S. citizens, ought to have the right to determine whether they want to be a state. I think statehood is the best path, personally," he said, reports CNN. "I have believed that for a long, long while. I'm not new to this."

He also stressed the need for the GOP to be more respectful toward Latino communities.

"If you show respect for people and you have a message that gives them some hope that life can be better, they're more open to voting for you," said the likely presidential contender, according to the New York Times.

"We've got to give that message, and we haven't campaigned in communities to show respect and to listen," he said.

Bush went on to address "the power of the immigrant experience" while talking about his Hispanic wife.

"Trust me," he said, "I know the power of the immigrant experience because I live it each and every day. I know the immigrant experience because I married a beautiful girl from Mexico. My children are bicultural and bilingual."

Bush, who has not yet declared his bid for the White House, told the crowd at the university in San Juan that the U.S. is "an immigrant nation and we should be proud of that. We should create an immigration system that drives economic opportunity for all of us."

Bush also reminded the audience that his father, George H. W. Bush, sent him to Puerto Rico to help organize for the island's primary during his presidential campaign in 1980.

"I learned how to organize intensely here, I learned the passion," he said, adding: "I learned how to drink a lot of Puerto Rican rum. I had a blast."

Democrats, however, dismissed Bush's comments.

"He opposes President Obama's executive action that would give millions of immigrant families peace of mind and a chance at the American Dream," said Pablo Manriquez, a Democratic Party spokesman, reports NBC News.

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