Original Article: Latino Rebels. 04/22/22

In today’s edition … Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is due in court today as part of a lawsuit seeking to block her reelection bid... Donald Trump Jr. is expected soon to meet with the Jan. 6 committee for a voluntary interview … Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate John Fetterman faced attacks from all sides during last night's debate (his first) … the fate of Mariupol fighters in question as U.S. says war entering new phase … but first … 

On the Hill

Rep. Ruben Gallego on which states will test Democrats' appeal to Latino voters, challenging Sen. Sinema

Eight questions for … Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.): We talked with the chairman of BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, about how Democrats are working to retain Hispanic voters and whether he'll launch a primary challenge to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) in 2024. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

The Early: Former president Donald Trump made significant gains with Hispanic voters in 2020. How are you working to reverse those gains this year?

Gallego: We're doing better and [more] aggressive recruitment of candidates running all over the country that we think will be helpful in getting out the Latino vote and holding the Latino vote in terms of staying with the Democratic Party. We're actively helping Latino and non-Latino candidates actually know how to talk to the Latino community. And we're making a strong effort and pushing back on the misinformation that exists within the Latino community, a lot of it being pushed by Republicans.

The Early: What’s an example of the misinformation that you're trying to combat?

Gallego: Some of it’s around Jan. 6. There has been an effort to whitewash what happened. Some of these [Republicans] are trying to escape the fact that they voted to overturn the election. Soon after Jan. 6, we put together YouTube ads for four or five districts calling out these Republicans — both Latino Republicans and Republicans that represent districts with high Latino populations — on their vote to decertify the election. That got a lot of attention from the local press, got a lot of attention from the Spanish press.

The Early: Which states and districts do you view as the test of whether Democrats will be successful this year in reversing Republican gains with Hispanic voters?

Gallego: I would say suburban California. Arizona. I think it's going to be hard to really see anything in Florida, in Miami. The work that we're going to have to do there — it’s going to take years for us to undo the harm that was caused by a very moribund party down there. And then the Rio Grande Valley is going to be important.

The Early: What about Nevada?

Gallego: The problem with Nevada isn't the Latino vote. It's the economy there. It hasn't recovered like the rest of the country. Latinos aren't going to vote because they're mad about not having a job — not because of any real pull towards [Republican Senate candidate] Adam Laxalt. It’s not like he has an appeal there. It's just more along the lines of the environment.

Partly what's happening here is the Republicans are going to try to claim victories of ‘Latinos’ in an off-year election. There’s gonna be a lot of gamesmanship to try to do that. It frustrates me that some people don't really look deep down and see what's happening. I'll give a good example: In Texas, you'll see some districts where, ‘Oh, my God, it's a Latino district and they voted more Republican.' When you look at those districts, they tend to be very big rural areas of the country where the voting-age population ends up being a lower amount of Latinos with a lot of white rural voters, and they end up creating the [Republican] surge that you see.

The Early: A Quinnipiac University poll this month found that 42 percent of Hispanic Americans would like to see Republicans win control of the House of Representatives if the election was held today — compared to 43 percent who would like to see Democrats win control. What do you make of those numbers?

Gallego: It does mean that we have to work harder to get the messaging out about what the Democrats have done, and what the Republicans are going to do should they take over. It is an off-year election. We have to over-communicate.

The Early: The pollster John Anzalone told Politico last week that he was seeing “a huge divide” in support for Republicans between Hispanic men and Hispanic women. Are you seeing that, too? Why do you think that is?

Gallego: Well, I've seen that for quite a while. The difference has been that [in the past] Hispanic men just didn't vote. And now those that are coming out are voting still Democratic, but they're not voting [Democratic] at the levels [they] used to. The largest reason why, in my opinion, is the Latino male is working class. And they're going to follow what other working-class voter patterns are to some degree. No. 2, because we as Democrats have not delivered immigration reform, at some point those voters, those male Latino voters that do care about that issue, aren’t going to stick with us. So then you have to start delivering real, tangible economic benefit to that community. What we need to do is deliver or else they're going to either not vote or they're going to start voting more Republican.

The Early: Democrats worked for years to turn Arizona blue before Sinema won in 2018, followed by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and President Biden's victories in 2020. What do Democrats need to do to keep the state blue this year?

Gallego: Everyone talks about losing the Latino vote — or losing some Latino vote — in 2020. But that's not what happened in Arizona. And the reason why is because there has been consistent investment in turning out the Latino vote, in communicating to Latinos here. And if that had been done in other states for as long as we have done it, it would make a big difference in terms of really stopping the bleeding that is occurring when it comes to Latino voters.

The Early: You’ve said you’re considering challenging Sinema in the primary in 2024. When do you expect to make a decision about that? And how will you decide?

Gallego: Well, I'm definitely not going to make it in the 2022 cycle. Decisions like that are made, one, with my family, and two, really with the voters of Arizona. If I feel that they want change and I feel like we're gonna be able to [win] the general [election] — beating [Sinema in] the primary’s not really the question — then that'll help me determine what to do.