Associated Press file
Activists, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, protest the Trump administration’s approach to illegal border crossings and family separations in June, in Washington, D.C.
Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018 | 2 a.m.
Food, culture and politics are three of the topics about which Republican Richard Hernandez’s Puerto Rican and Spanish family are passionate.
“Of course we have heated discussions,” Hernandez said, “but they’re always very much based in fact, and I don’t think there’s any bruised egos walking out of them.”
Hernandez, a communications director who works alongside two Latinos on Republican Danny Tarkanian’s five-person campaign staff, came to Nevada from Southern California in January 2016 to work with the Nevada GOP. “I was starting to grow tired of California and the policies that I felt had started infringing on my personal liberties,” Hernandez said.
Cuban-American vs. Mexican-American
Cuban-Americans tend to be conservative, while Mexican-Americans are more likely to be Democratic, according to Michael Bowers, professor of political science and public law at UNLV. Cubans were more focused on class and many had access to higher-paying jobs than Mexican immigrants because of their previous experience in Cuba’s gaming industry before Fidel Castro came to power and outlawed gambling.
Hernandez’s story is one of many that exemplifies an increasing trend of Hispanic representation and influence in politics that includes Gov. Brian Sandoval and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
According to Michael Bowers, professor of political science and public law at UNLV, Hispanic and Asian voting blocs are going to gain power through population growth, activism and increased voter registration efforts in the coming years.
Nevada’s Hispanic population grew from 6.8 percent in 1980 to 26.5 percent in 2010. The Census Bureau estimated that Hispanics made up 28.8 percent of the state’s population in 2017.
But Bowers also emphasized that growth doesn’t guarantee turnout, and overcoming obstacles such as differences in political ideology and organizing are key.
Reported voting stayed steady among Nevada’s Hispanics from the 2014 midterm to 2010, at about 27 percent of the population, compared with more than 40 percent of white citizens, according to Census data.
To encourage participation, organizations such as Mi Familia Vota, which opened a Las Vegas office in 2010, are building on decades of activism from the local Culinary Union. As that kind of advocacy grows, Hispanic representation in politics and voter participation could continue to increase as well.
The black community has a long-standing culture of activism that translated into leadership roles, with black legislators, both Democrats, leading the Nevada Legislature for the first time in 2017, Bowers said. Turnout among black citizens in the 2016 presidential election reached 67.1 percent, topping the 61.8 percent among white voters and 56.6 percent among Hispanics, according to the Census Bureau.
“Perhaps it is because of the history of civil rights organizing beginning in the 1950s that has made this more of a habit and a culture in the African-American community than in the Hispanic community,” Bowers said. “Nonetheless, it is beginning to happen now in the Hispanic community and it is likely to bring benefits in terms of political power and policy.”
Cyndy Hernandez, political organizing coordinator for Nevada’s Future, works with a coalition of groups that focus on getting Latinos out to vote. This election, she said, Latinos are more attentive.
“We’re being talked a lot about in the media,” she said. “People are paying attention, and they’re like, ‘Well how do I vote? When do I vote? I’m ready to vote.’ It’s the role of organizations like us to go out there and have these conversations, and we have been for months, and we’re going to translate that into votes.”
For whom do Latinos vote?
Indicative of the Hispanic voting population of the past, Hernandez said he and his father are outnumbered by his mostly Democratic family. But that trend may be changing.
While Hispanics have mostly voted for Democratic presidential candidates since the ’80s, according to Pew Research, 25 to 40 percent of Hispanics have favored Republicans in recent years. About 62 percent supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 over Donald Trump.
Fernando Romero, president of nonpartisan Hispanics in Politics since its inception 38 years ago, said about a quarter of the group’s members are at least somewhat conservative, compared with about 14 to 20 percent who likely voted Republican in the past.
For almost 24 years, the group has invited politicians to speak the first Wednesday of every month at its breakfast meeting at Doña Maria Tamales restaurant Downtown.
“It’s an eclectic group of individuals because it’s not strictly Latinos,” Romero said. “Our main goal and our mission statement is to empower the Latino community when it comes to political knowledge, force, information and also supporting candidates that, if not Hispanic, at least do favor the Latino issues.”
Romero said members of the local Hispanic community are sometimes not sure who to vote for, but that immigration may push them out in force this year to vote against family separations at the border and other controversial efforts by the GOP administration.
“With Mr. Trump calling us rapists and terrorists and drug traffickers, etc., I think it’s what’s going to draw the vote out,” Romero said. “That coupled with a number of organizations that are really dedicated to (getting out the vote). … Now, are they all going to vote Democrat? I don’t know.”
Hernandez said Catholic Latino voters may also be motivated by conservative religious beliefs, such as opposition to abortion. Most Hispanics are Catholic, according to Pew.
Education Savings Accounts are a focus of the community as well. Romero said about 47 percent of the student body in Clark County is Hispanic.
Democrats, including Tarkanian’s congressional opponent Susie Lee, typically oppose ESA programs, saying they take money out of the public school system and put it into private schools.
Tarkanian and other supporters of school choice say these programs give parents help to leave public schools.
The conservative Koch brothers-funded Libre Initiative is working to persuade Latino voters that ESAs would benefit their families, wallets and education.
“It may be true, but I don’t think so,” Romero said. “It’s going to take a lot of effort on our part to convince the Latino voter to vote for the candidates who are best suited for our community.”
This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.
