The poor results have further opened and revealed a rift between the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and Democratic Party leadership over how to approach Latino voters.
Yes Congressional Hispanic Democrats are questioning the partys approach to campaigning in Latino communities as Republicans led by Donald Trump exceed expectations with the demographic.
Rep. Tony Crdenas (D-Calif.) chairman of the CHCs fundraising arm Bold PAC said many of the consultants hired by party leadership fail to fully understand the cultural nuances of the communities theyre trying to approach.
I am disappointed to this day with the Democratic Party with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee the Democratic National Committee and I would like to see Hillary Clintons campaign hire more consultants who are of the communities Crdenas told The Hill newspaper in Washington D.C. recently.The clash of interests has permeated the CHC itself where one member Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) is also in the party leadership as House Democratic Caucus Chairman.
Some CHC members are also irked at the national campaigns reluctance to target Texas. An August vote to assign Bold PAC funds to target Trumps finance chairman in the state detonated conflict in the usually cohesive caucus.
Texan members of the caucus petitioned BOLD PAC to assign $50000 to campaign against Finance Chairman Dennis Nixon who prospered providing banking services to Hispanics in the state before joining Trumps campaign. Becerra opposed the move because the money wouldnt be directly used to grow the caucus ranks but ultimately lost the vote 13-4.
Texas would be difficult to win even with a fully funded effort but worth pursuing given the Clinton campaigns massive war chest and the states large Latino population.
Its just very frustrating when the campaigns that have all the money which in this case happens to be the national campaign doesnt do anything to help promote the vote said Vela.
Texas has 10.4 million Hispanics the second largest Latino population in the country after California but only 46 of them are currently eligible to vote according to the Pew Research Center.
The national campaign is instead targeting smaller Latino populations that could be the tipping point in tightly contested swing states like Iowa.
Despite the tension CHC members are campaigning aggressively both to expand the caucuss ranks and as part of the national campaign.
Cong. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) the CHC whip said diversification of the DCCC staff under Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) has helped national Democratic campaigns better appeal to minority voters.
Culturally relevant and sensitive outreach towards the Latino community has been largely on the congressional side where Ive seen some amazing radio advertising amazing digital advertising both English and Spanish language thats aimed at the Latino community said Gallego.
Lujan appointed as the first Hispanic chairman of the DCCC in 2015 is the former chairman of BOLD PAC. Theyre doing more this cycle than Ive ever seen them do in Spanish and I give all the credit to Ben Ray Lujan said Chuck Rocha president of Solidarity Strategies a Latino-owned political consulting firm.I still think that we are woefully shy of allowing and giving opportunities to minority consultants especially Hispanics said Crdenas.
You have billions of dollars being handed over to businesses who are doing really good important work to get those messages out and yet Hispanics are participating at less than one percent of that activity yet we make up 53 million people in this country.
