Hillary’s Latino voter push

We’ll see if the reality measures up to the pregame hype.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is ramping up her outreach to Hispanic voters, and Texas is playing a prominent role in the coming push.

The former secretary of state plans to speak Oct. 15 in San Antonio about Hispanic women and her own ties to the Latino community, a campaign aide said Thursday. The speech will be part of a national effort called “Latinos for Hillary” that the campaign is launching to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month.

The speech is not the only way Texas is factoring into Latinos for Hillary. Texas is also among the several states the campaign plans to host “Latino house parties” during the first Democratic presidential debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 13 in Las Vegas. And the campaign is dispatching U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, to Nevada two days before the debate to stump for her in the early voting state.

In Texas, Clinton will have the opportunity to remind the state’s Latinos of her work helping register Hispanic voters in South Texas after graduating from law school. Endorsing Clinton for president on Wednesday, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis suggested Texans won’t forget her early activism in the state come Election Day.

“I know that Hillary holds Texas in a very dear place in her heart,” Davis said, later telling reporters, “She’s been loyal to this state, and I expect that this state’s going to be loyal to her.”

There was a similar story in the Chron as well. I don’t know how much any of this is factored into the polling numbers we have seen lately, but one way or another it is a factor. It’s not just a Texas thing, of course. Here’s an email I got with some more details about what’s to come:

  • The campaign will launch Latinos for Hillary starting the end of the week for the next several weeks. Hillary Clinton will do an interview with Telemundo while she’s in Florida on Friday.
  • The launch will coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month and will be used to energize, organize and earn the support of the Latino community.
  • In the face of a GOP field that promises to diminish the Latino community, Hillary’s message will be that she will defend and stand with Latinos— because when Latino families are strong, America is strong.
  • The campaign will host a number of organizing activities, including an organizing event in San Antonio on Oct. 15th focused on Latinas and her personal story. This will be her first organizing event in Texas since she announced, and her second public event in Texas.  Hillary previously gave a speech in Houston for how to expand access to the ballot box.  Her connection to the community dates back to when she registered Latino voters in south Texas and along the Rio Grande after graduating from Law School.
  • Hillary Clinton will hold campaign events in Nevada the day after the Democratic debate, where the Latino vote is critical for the caucus and the general election. Rep. Joaquin Castro will campaign forClinton in the state leading up to the debate on Oct. 11th.
  • The campaign will also host a number of Latino house parties around the Democratic debate in key states like Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Texas and Virginia.
  • Hillary Clinton will speak at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) 38th Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, Oct. 8th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Hillary has a relationship with CHCI dating back to her time as First Lady and worked to empower Latino youth.  This is the largest Latino gathering in the country.  President Obama will also address the group.http://hhm.chci.org/president-obama-to-speak-at-chcis-38th-annual-awards-gala/
  • Hillary Clinton will do calls over the next week with the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), which represents a coalition of the nation’s 40 prominent Latino organizations; Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members; and Latino leaders and supporters. Hillary previously met with the CHC this summer where she discussed her policy agenda and issues important to the community.
  • The campaign will roll out endorsements in the coming weeks from community leaders, elected officials and celebrities, and urge voters to tell their stories through digital channels.
  • Director of Latino Outreach Lorella Praeli, an activist and a DREAMer, has a deep understanding of the community.  She developed the plan and will lead these efforts in order to earn the vote of this key constituency.

Read more about her story here: http://www.makers.com/blog/be-the-hero-lorella-praeli

  • One of the first policy announcements that Hillary Clinton made was on immigration.  Hillary also laid out her vision on expanding access to the ballot box and voting rights. She has also focused on other the issues that matter most to Latinos like the economy and education by speaking to those communities directly when she rolled out her proposals.
  • “Latinos for Hillary” will serve as a platform to highlight Clinton’s agenda to fight for Latinos. Latinos continue to get short-changed on incomes, lag on educational attainment rates, and many live in the shadows in fear that deportation will tear their families apart. Clinton has laid out a vision to help Latinos get ahead and stay ahead, including:

o   She will get incomes rising again for Latino families: On average, Hispanic households earn $500,000 less than the average white household. Hillary will fight to raise incomes for hard working Latino families.

 

o   She will make college affordable for Latinos: Latino college students are less likely than white students to enroll in a four-year college and nearly 67% of Latino students who do earn bachelor’s degrees leave school with debt. Hillary’s New College Compact will ensure that cost is not a barrier for anyone who wants to attend college.

 

o   She will make quality, affordable, childcare a reality for families: Nearly 32 percent of Hispanic women in college and almost 18% of Hispanic men in college are balancing school with raising their children. Hillary’s education plan will provide childcare and scholarships to meet the needs of student parents.

 

o   She will defend and expand the Affordable Care Act for Latinos: In 2009, 32 percent of Latinos were uninsured— that’s higher than any other minority group. Today, under the ACA, millions of Latinos across the country are benefitting from stronger coverage and protections. Hillary will stand up to Republican attempts to roll back the law.

 

o   She will fight for comprehensive immigration reform: Instead of breaking up law-abiding immigrant families who have enriched America for years, Hillary will offer them a path to full and equal citizenship. She will also protect and implement the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) programs, and do everything possible under the law to ensure that we keep families together.

So there you have it. Honestly, I care more about what will happen after the primaries are over. To whatever extent this campaign operates in Texas, I hope something like it – in support of whoever the nominee is – continues to exist here through November.

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5 Responses to Hillary’s Latino voter push

  1. Bill Daniels says:

    o “She will make quality, affordable, childcare a reality for families….”

    Since most child care workers are low wage, how does raising wages help families get affordable child care? Say the average child care worker makes $ 8-9/hour. Doesn’t Hillary support the “fight for $ 15″campaign? What will that do to the price of child care?

    The only thing that makes sense is that she is proposing more handouts, courtesy of the US taxpayer, for people who have kids that they cannot afford.

  2. Ross says:

    @Bill, what’s your point? Are you saying poor people shouldn’t have children? I’ll use the example of some friends who used birth control fanatically after their second child. There was a failure, and after their third child, the wife had her tubes tied. After their fourth child, the tubal was redone. They couldn’t afford the third or fourth child, but had them despite their best efforts.

  3. Bill Daniels says:

    @Ross:

    Yes, I believe people should not have children they cannot financially support, but that wasn’t the point of my post. My point was simple economics and math. Hillary is miraculously going to “make child care more affordable,” while simultaneously raising the minimum wage drastically. Unless she plans to start her own “Bracero” program and import low wage foreigners to take care of America’s children, then I really don’t see how she can achieve both goals, short of giving even MORE handouts to people.

    Is that really what we want from government, to make people more and more dependent on handouts? Wouldn’t it be better to wean people from the public teat and give them their self reliance and pride back?

  4. brad m says:

    Bill, I believe what “we want from government” is to end unnecessary huge subsidies, tax breaks and tax loopholes for corporations and get them off the public tit and give them their “self reliance and pride” back. Wouldn’t that be better?

  5. Bill Daniels says:

    @brad m:

    Why can’t we have both? Why can’t we cut the teat for people who don’t want to work, and also cut the special rules for special business teat as well? Kuff has good articles all about the byzantine liquor rules and the lobby that keeps it that way. We should be treating all business equal. The “Texas Enterprise Fund,” Solyndra, and other giveaways of tax money are just as wrong as giving it away to people who don’t want to pay their own way. Equally wrong. Why can’t we stop ALL giveaways? That way, local and state governments will compete for new business on the same premise. Businesses would and should gravitate to the states with the lowest taxes and the least onerous regulation.

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