Democrat Yadira Caraveo's victory in Congressional District 8 in Colorado, a brand new district, reflects the growing Latino population in Colorado. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/elections/colorado-latinos-voted-for-democrats-in-dominant-fashion-exit-poll-shows/article_05c27822-6477-11ed-a0d7-1b185549ec99.html
In Arizona, the increasing Latino demographics contributed to that state's shift from red to purple recently. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-suburbanites-latinos-and-the-ghost-of-john-mccain-turned-arizona-into-a-presidential-battleground/ar-AA1jcHYS?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=0ebe0487102d4ec290e853e5d0eaf556&ei=7
This 2022 midterm election provides an opportunity for Democrats to shape national messaging that appeals across the Latino/Hispanic divide of diverse experiences.
There was a great deal of handwringing before November 8 midterms that there was a shift of Latino voters to the GOP. It panned out in Florida and less than predicted in Texas. However, in Colorado, Latinos/Hispanics voted around 70% for Democrats. The assumption has been that uniform interest was dictated by ethnic identification and that they would vote as a block. That assumption works in Colorado, but not everywhere, and the Latino experiences in Florida are different than the Latino experiences in Colorado. In Florida, both Cuban and Venezuelans fled socialism and communism and were most often the more affluent in the countries they were fleeing. They have been given special access to citizenship and immigration. The Puerto Ricans were once considered mostly Democrats, and Puerto Ricans are American citizens. Even they departed from the Democrats in 2022. All three groups do not have problems with green cards, immigration barriers, and voting. Many are now first and second-generation. In Colorado, some Hispanics trace their roots to the early 1700s and others to the late 1900s. While my roots of ancestors are very mixed, one great-grandmother, an immigrant from Spain, married to a man from a Missouri French immigrant community, settled in eastern Colorado in the 1880s, and Spanish was the language of my paternal grandfather's childhood. The very recent influx of those from Mexico and Central America do not arrive with a green card in hand or the ability to vote. They must rely on those who have attained citizenship by birth or naturalization to vote on behalf of their interests. Many with family ties in the US receive a hand-up from them. Such family ties are a powerful force and a fundamental characteristic of Hispanic culture.
How does the Democratic party devise a national message that has universal appeal across this great divide of Latino diversity, ranging from Florida to the American southwest? First, realize Latino voters are those that have achieved or have been born to US citizenship and have various views of the current wave of immigrants coming from central America. While all politics is local, there are some national sentiments held in common by this very diverse group that favor Democrats. What they all share is what other immigrants to America sought. Like all waves of immigrants since the founding of America, they are trying to pursue '" the American dream," to have the ability and the social and political freedom to raise a family and nourish it, to move up to the next rung in economic prosperity, and some to start and own their own businesses. They want the playing field to be level and look for candidates who support fairness regardless of race or national origin. Those are aspirations as old as the nation, founded on the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on the basis that all men were created equal. My late husband immigrated to America, escaping a Communist dictatorship, and was one of the post-World War II immigrants to America. While he was from South Eastern Europe, he found a kinship with Latinos in their aspirations and even a cultural affinity. His medical practice was bi-lingual.
Achieving those aspirations of the American dream in the land of opportunity is easier in a society that respects those who do not look like or even speak like the majority and who believe in less government control and intrusion into their private lives (including supporting women's control over their health care), Democrats can make the case they are the party that provides the personal freedom and the ability to make it easier to pursue the American dream.
We are experiencing a demographic shift. By 2040, minorities will become the majority. American voters have a choice to delay this shift by suppressing civil and voting rights and limiting immigration of target groups, or they can realize that demographics are destiny and can make the attempt to live together in peace and acceptance for the sake of future generations. Democrats, by their liberalism and personal values, have as their mantra to be inclusive of all regardless of religion, race, national origin, and sexual orientation in pursuit of the American dream and have the will to shape a public policy agenda that provides a level and fair playing field for all. In political terms, that means support for civil and human rights. The GOP has shown a willingness to cater to those within their ranks who advocate freedom for those who are partisans of a certain race, religion, or sexual orientation. and ideology at the exclusion and expense, disrespect, suppression, and control over others who do not. Achieving the American Dream is easier with fair access to opportunity and governance by a democracy that reflects a level playing field. This is the view of inclusion that works peacefully in this very diverse nation of descendants of immigrants, more recent immigrants, and the indigenous.
Democracy provides a framework and enforcement by the rule of law to provide the level playing field and power-sharing with the public will expressed through the ballot box. That is a democracy as we have tried to practice it for 250 years. In November 2022, this normal, traditional version won, and in key states, those were defeated who had hoped to deny the will of the voters by controlling who voted and how the vote was counted. These election deniers planned to use distrust and chaos of the election system to deny that their candidate lost the vote, to try to delegitimize the ability of the real winner to govern, or to abuse the system to overturn the popular vote cast by the majority. Their impact on the 2024 presidential election cycle would be to favor Donald Trump, an advocate of autocracy and favoring those loyal to him at the exclusion of "others," and the promoter of a political strategy and goals that would enhance his own personal political power. A fair and level playing field is not a plank in his platform. https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2022/11/13/election-deniers-defeated-state-races/ Election deniers are still a threat and still are in a position to damage to democracy in 2024.How Election Denial Lost the Midterms - The Atlantic
Voters Push Back Against Election Deniers in Key States | The Pew Charitable Trusts (pewtrusts.org)
Biden fast-tracks work authorization for migrants who cross legally (usatoday.com)
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/13/latino-voters-midterm-elections-republicans-00066618
Latino voters critical to Yadira Caraveo victory in CO's 8th district (denverpost.com)
Midterm Election Results Highlight Importance of Engaging the Growing Hispanic Electorate | UnidosUS
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