ICYMI · News · Press Release

ICYMI: Latino voters can ‘really have an influence’ for Democrats in over two dozen House districts | NBC News

Dan Sena (DCCC ED): “The truth is we made the community a priority. It’s why we put people on the ground a year and a half out before Election Day.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • In 2017, the DCCC launched an unprecedented, long-term $25+ million investment to turn out diverse voters, women, and millennials.
  • The DCCC has been on the ground organizing in competitive congressional districts, especially in notably Hispanic districts, for over a year.
  • The DCCC has made it a priority to build a pipeline of diverse, local field directors and organizers from the district that look like the district.
  • The DCCC has been on air with several Spanish-language television ads across the county, and is also investing in robust digital, mail, radio, text message and traditional field programs.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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Latino voters can ‘really have an influence’ for Democrats in over two dozen House districts
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-voters-can-really-have-influence-democrats-over-two-dozen-n919326
By Suzanne Gamboa
NBC News

AUSTIN, Texas — In her campaign ad, congressional candidate Xochitl Torres Small aims a rifle at an avian target and shoots. A bird can be seen falling in the distance.

“In New Mexico, folks understand guns are a part of our heritage. It’s a starting point for us,” Torres Small said in an interview with NBC News.

The line may sound like a Republican candidate’s talking point, but Torres Small is the Democrat in the neck-and-neck race for the open New Mexico Congressional District 2 race.

[…]

The district is one of the 111 congressional districts where Democrats are waging their battle to win control of the U.S. House and one of 29 where Latinos make up 10 percent or more of the eligible voter population.

They are the districts where Latinos “can really have an influence” on which party controls the House, said Dan Sena, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, (DCCC), whose committee raises money and works to get Democrats elected and re-elected to the House.

Small’s performance thus far has excited Latino groups and others who are trying to turn out Latino voters this election.

In addition to New Mexico, the 10 percent and up Latino districts that could go from Republican to Democrat are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

[…]

Only five of the districts that the DCCC is targeting have Latino candidates: Gil Cisneros in California 39, Mike Levin in California 49, Ammar Campa-Najjar in California 50, Debbie Murcasel-Powell in Florida 26, who is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, and Torres Small in New Mexico 2.

But the DCCC’s targeted Latino districts include those without Latino candidates, such as California District 10, where Democrat Josh Harder faces Republican incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham or Texas District 23 where Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, who faces incumbent Republican Will Hurd.

MOBILIZING THE VOTERS

Topics such as health care and immigration — particularly the parent-child border separations —have polled high with Latinos as motivators this election.

[…]

Torres Small said she is keeping in mind that in the lower half of New Mexico that makes up Congressional District 2, there’s an independent streak that runs through many of the district’s Hispanic voters.

“New Mexicans don’t care which party gets the credit or the blame,” she says in the hunting campaign ad, “we just want someone to deliver.”

“There is a wide diversity of Latino and Hispanics in the district,” Torres Small told NBC News. “There are people like me who are a few generations separated (from immigration to the U.S.) and then there are others where the border crossed them.”

Torres Small will turn 34 the day before the election. Many young Latinos, including in the district, are not identifying with either party. They are choosing no party or Independent, she said.

“They don’t feel the party has served them or got things done,” she said. “I identify with that.”

[…]

Chuck Rocha, a Democratic consultant who is doing work with the DCCC, complained that Super PACs and other political committees are spending very little money on Hispanic outreach, work that Rocha’s firm had done in elections.

[…]

But Sena said there has been a “complete cultural shift” at the DCCC, which has been doing more in this year’s election than in previous midterms.

“We are spending an unprecedented amount for communities of color,” Sena said, adding that the spending is about $25 million.

Five days after Trump was elected, DCCC launched its “March to 18” effort that put locally hired organizers in 21 of the most vulnerable Republican districts, including in the 10-percent plus Latino districts.

“The truth is we made the community a priority. It’s why we put people on the ground a year and a half out before Election Day,” he said.

The DCCC put money into several of the campaigns and has emphasized to candidates that the help comes with an expectation that they would be doing connecting with Latino communities and working to turn out Latino voters.

“It’s a function of making sure we are putting our candidates in front of the Hispanic community,” Sena said.

IN PRIMARIES, SOME SUCCESS STORIES

[…]

In California’s June primary, Latino voting in majority Hispanic precincts increased as much as 245 percent over 2014, which helped move Gil Cisneros into the general election race in California District 39, the Sacramento Bee reported. Cisneros is in a tight race with Republican Young Kim.

“We can always do more and my hope is we will do more as we progress,” Sena said. “Having said that we have candidates telling unique stories we believe Latinos will listen to.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE





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