Hispanics Voting Republican in Growing Numbers Across Texas

Hispanic GOP group targets 18 State level races Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas  On Thursday Austins KXAN-TV covered  how even Hispanic voters are moving to vote Republican this election (see video below) highlighting the efforts of an up & coming organization helping facilitate the trend the Hispanic Republicans of Texas (HRT).     Hispanics constitute the largest single growing community in Texas and have a profound impact on this state.

Hispanic Republicans of Texas continuous efforts the last weekend before Election Day to help recruit train & elect Hispanic Republicans for Texas may benefit Republican challenger Larry Gonzales (R-Round Rock) as well as up to 18 others across Texas next Tusday.

Larry Gonzales (R-Round Rock) is preparing a fight to the end for House District 52. George P. Bush and a handful of others recently created this group in an effort to elect more Hispanic Republican leaders. Currently there are no Hispanic Republicans in the state House. The reason was to help recruit train and elect Hispanic Republicans to state and local office" said HRTs Trey Newton. When Nov. 2 rolls around I think were going to have some pretty good success. They have come through with actual donations which allow us to do what we need to do" said Gonzales. During the primary they actually did a lot of in-kind polling for us so they could look at the numbers. They knew what was happening as well. But why the Republican Party? For one Hispanics represent 37 percent of the entire Texas population a huge voting base. Many in this group making up one-third of the state are Democrats. A lot of times what you see in the Hispanic community is theyre Democrats because their daddy was and their grandma was" Gonzales added. Were trying to refocus that. If you sit down and look at how we live our lives what are our priorities?"

The Texas Democratic Party said this is the GOPs last-ditch effort to gain as many seats as it can. There is the very real possibility Hispanic Republicans could pick up anywhere from three to five. The Republican Party just keeps sliding down to a more extreme right ideal" said TDPs Daniela Santoni. I think the more that they do that the less that theyre going to appeal to the Latino voter. But when it comes to Hispanic Democrats like Gonzales opponent Rep. Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) there has been criticism of voting often with the states Hispanic caucus instead of for their direct constituents. I have always made a point of listening to the people in my district in order to gain the best understanding of the issues that are of concern to them" Maldonado told KXAN. I vote with my constituency first and foremost. Furthermore 70 percent of the legislation that I filed in the last session was made up of local community-driven ideas." Gonzales said that criticism is something he will have to remember this weekend when working to gain every last voter possible. Not only is this group focusing on the state house races there are also State Board of Education candidates judicial candidates even local candidates. Once Tuesday is over it will begin gearing up for 2012.