While MAGA Republicans continue to undermine women’s freedoms, The New York Times highlights how Hispanic male Democrats are connecting with voters, including Latino men, on the issue of protecting abortion rights.
This follows reporting from The New York Times finding that “a majority of Latino voters now support abortion rights, according to polls, a reversal from two decades ago.”
DCCC Spokesperson José Muñoz:
“In addition to fighting to lower costs and creating good paying jobs, House Democrats remain steadfast in their commitment to protecting personal freedoms – including abortion rights. It’s clear a majority of Latino voters, including Latino men, are turned off by MAGA Republicans’ continued obsession with banning abortion and limiting people’s personal freedoms.”
New York Times: Hispanic Male Democrats Make an Abortion-Rights Pitch to Latino Men
Jazmine Ulloa | July 13, 2024
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When he was a child, Representative Gabriel Vasquez never heard his parents discuss politics, much less abortion, a topic that was off limits in many Mexican Catholic households like his. So he can see why some might think he is taking a risk by focusing on abortion rights in campaigning to Latino men.
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But Mr. Vasquez, who represents a border district in New Mexico, and several other Hispanic male Democratic candidates said there was no avoiding the abortion debate this year. They point to polling and Democratic electoral victories in the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned that capture how Latinos’ views on the issue have reversed.
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The right to abortion has taken on new urgency especially for Latinas, who have been stirred by accounts of pregnant women facing life-threatening situations and having to travel thousands of miles for reproductive care.
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Mr. Vasquez said abortion rights could resonate with Latino men as much as it has with women, because at its core is personal freedom, a value that attracts many immigrants to the United States.
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“It is not about whether we are pro-choice or pro-life. It is about trusting the people that we love to make those decisions for themselves,” he said in an interview.
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Mr. Vasquez’s distinctive position as a messenger was on display last month when he was the only man who spoke at an event with a group of female Democratic lawmakers and activists in his district to mark the second anniversary of the end of Roe.
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Similar fights are playing out in congressional races in Arizona, California and Nebraska, where Hispanic male Democrats have sought to frame abortion rights as a matter of personal freedom and liberty.
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In Nebraska, Tony Vargas, a Democratic state senator, is campaigning against Representative Don Bacon, a Republican who supported legislation banning abortion in 2021, by saying that he wants to take away “health care freedom.”
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Like Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Vargas, the son of Peruvian immigrants, recalled that his Catholic household avoided discussing politics and abortion. But as Republicans moved to curb the right in Nebraska, more physicians and women in his district urged him to protect it. They included his mother and, to his surprise, he said, his father, whom he described as a gruff, no-nonsense machinist.
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In the Central Valley of California, Rudy Salas, a former Democratic state lawmaker, is challenging Representative David Valadao, a Republican, on his abortion-rights record for the second time.
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Mr. Salas has continued to criticize Mr. Valadao’s abortion stance in ads, and in a statement he denounced his support for “extreme legislation.” Mr. Valadao’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
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