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Hispanic and Latino Americans in U.S Politics --Edits

Past Senators ~~~~

• Octaviano A. Larrazolo (R-NM) 1928-1929 : He was the first Mexican American and first Latino United States senator.
• Dennis Chavez (D-NM) 1935-1962 : He was the first Hispanic Democrat elected in the U.S Senate. He was also the longest serving Hispanic U.S senator.
• Joseph M. Montoya (D-NM) 1964-1977: He was the youngest representative in the history of the state to be elected to the New Mexico House of Representative at the age of 22. Then became senator in 1964.
• Kenneth L. Salazar (D-CO) 2005-2009: He became the first Hispanic American from Colorado to serve in the U.S Senate.
• Mel Martinez (R-FL) 2005-2009: He and Ken Salazar were the first Hispanic politicians to be voted into the U.S Senate since 1977.

Rovalle234 (talk) 22:02, 3 March 2023 (UTC)

Voting Rights Act History

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The "Voting Rights Act of 1965" was signed into law by 36th U. S. President, Lyndon B.Johnson. The act made it illegal for states, mostly Southern states, to keep discriminatory voting practices in place. This included literacy tests and polling taxes. The law, most notably impacted African Americans as they were visibly disenfranchised from voting, but the act also helped remove barriers for Latino voters.

Discriminatory voting practices against Latinos

After the Civil War, many Southern states, adopted discriminatory voting practices against African Americans, but also for anyone that was non-white. According to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Texas laws prohibited Tejanos ( Texas residents that descended from Mexico), from speaking Spanish, organizing political demonstrations/protests or even from serving as election judges as early as 1845. By the 1900s poll taxes, and white primaries (only white people were allowed to participate in primaries), prohibited Mexican Americans from voting.

Impacts of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965

By 1966, after the "Voting Rights Act of 1965" was passed, voting discriminatory practices mentioned above were eliminated. However, the Latino community still faced language barriers to vote. As a result the "Southwest Voter Registration Education" project was started in 1974, becoming the first and largest non-partisan organization in the U.S. Founder William C. Velazquez, created the organization after realizing that language barriers remained for Latinos even after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Many Latino voters, including Puerto Ricans, were unable to cast their vote between the time the VRA of 1965 was passed until its revision in 1975.

Voting Rights Act of 1975

In 1975, 38th U.S. President, Gerald Ford, extended the VRA Act of 1975, to protect language minorities. Specifically, "Section 203 Language of the Voting Rights Act" was added into the act. According to the Census, the new provision required certain states (those that have discriminatory voting practices) to provide language assistance and translated voting materials (e.g., registration forms, ballots, instructions) to language minority groups, during elections. The language minority groups that were included under the provision were those that speak Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Spanish. Additionally, these states would need the federal governments' permission to change their voting laws.

States need to provide language assistance if:

• More than 5% of the voting age is not proficient in English

or

• More than 10,000 voting age citizens are not proficient in English

and

• The citizens that are limited English proficient have less than a 5th grade education

Impacts of the Voting Rights Act of 1975 in Texas

Texas was one of the states that had to abide by Section 203 of the VRA of 1975, due to its discriminatory voting practices. According to the Department of Justice, since 1982, Texas has had the highest number of voter changing objections. Additionally there was 54 instances when Texas changed its discriminitaory voting law proposals after they knew they would get rejected fromt the Department of Justice. Section 203, stopped states like Texas from continuing their voter disenfranchisement.

Impacts of the Voting Rights Act of 1975

Since the enactment of the VRA of 1975, the Latino voting block increased by 183%. According to the National Research Council (US) Panel on Hispanics and the United States, Latino officeholders increased in the 6 states (Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, New York, and Texas) with the largest Latino population. In 1973, there were only 1,280 Latino officeholders across these 6 states, by 2003, there were 4,130. John A. Garcia, a political science researcher at the University of Michigan, explains that this increase in political representation, is due to the fact that the VRA of 1975, created an environment where Hispanics and Latinos could feel comfortable in seeking office positions in the Southwestern part of the United States.

In a study conducted by political scientists, Melissa Marschall and Amanda Rutherford, it was discovered that Section 203, increased Latino political representation in offices, and Latino voter participation. However the authors found that federal oversight alongside Section 203, ensured that adequately trained bilingual poll workers were present and that voting materials were translated. Without federal monitering, Section 203 is not as effective.

In "Translating into Votes: The Electoral Impacts of Spanish-Language Ballots" by Daniel J. Hopkins, it was found that the VRA of 1975 significantly increased Latino voter participation in California. The provision eased Spanish speakers anxiousness at the polls, and helped them vote down the ballot. However other studies, have argued that language assistance is less of an indicator for voter turnout compared to age and education level.

Timeline: Aftermath of the Voting Rights Act of 1975

• 1982: After Section 203 was set to expire, it was renewed again for seven more years
• 1992: After Section 203 was set to expire again, Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY) introduced the Voting Rights Language Assistance Act, to extend the bill for 15 years, instead of having to renew it every 7 years. Supporters for the bill, argued that language assistance was necessary for newly naturalized citizens to be civically engaged, while opponents argued that the provision was costly, even suggesting to remove it. After the political battle, the legislation was signed and passed by President George H. W. Bush on August 26, 1992.
• 2006: When the Voting Rights Language Assistance Act of 1992 was a year from expiring, a new special provision was added and passed. It was called the "Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Cesar E. Chavez, Barbara Jordan, William Velazquez and Dr. Hector Garcia Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act".

Notable Court Cases

Hernandez v. Texas (1954)

In 1954, Pete Hernandez was charged with the murder of Joe Espinosa in Jackson County, Texas. Hernandez argued that the state had incorrectly indicted him, given that most of the jurors were white when Jackson county had a large Hispanic population. The court found that 11% of the Jackson County population were over the age of 21 and had Spanish surnames, however in the last 25 years, no person with a Latin American name, served on a jury. Because no Latino was chosen to serve on a jury among the 6,000 slots available in the last 25 years, the court stated it was a form of discrimination, whether it was or wasnt a conscious decision by Texas. This case has been marked by many legal scholars as the first supreme courts decision to explicitly acknowledge discrimination against Latinos.

Court Case Impact

According to legal scholars, this court case recognized Latinos as a separate race/ethnicity from the binary races. The case proved that Latinos are not white or black, they were apart of their own distinct group. This played an important role into identity politics in the future. Additionally, since the court case decisions, people serving on juries are required to be pulled from across a community. As a result, diversity in juries has increased, including Latino jurors.

Claudio Castaneda, Sherif v. Rodrigo Partida (1977)

In 1977, Rodrigo Partida was convicted of burglary and with the intent to rape in Hidalgo County, Texas. After being indicted, Partida argued that he was convicted unfairly, because Mexican-Americans were not represented in the jury. At the time, 79.2% of Hidalgos population had Mexican American surnames, but in Partidas grand jury, only 40% were Mexican America. Texas argued that this was not discrimination, since Hidalgo county is run by Mexican Americans. The court found no evidnce for discrimination, but Partida appealed this decision and the 5th U.S. curcuit reversed the original courts decisions. The 5th U.S. circuit court were unable to rule out the possibility that Mexican Americans were discriminated against even if they were the majority in Hidalgo County.

LULAC v. Perry (2006)

In 2006, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) filed a lawsuit against Texas governor, Rick Perry. LULAC argued that the 2003 redistricting plan, which was controlled by Republicans, diluted Latinos' and African Americans' voting power, violating the Voting Rights Act of 1975. The courts' decision favored Perry, which helped the Republican party win five congressional seats in Texas and ultimately gain control of Congress.

Shelby v. Holder (2013)

Under the Voting Rights Act of 1975, 11 states with voter discrimination history (Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia), were required to seek approval from the Department of Justice (a process called "preclearance") if they wanted to amend a policy. However, in 2013, this "preclearance" requirement was taken away.

Court Case Impact

In 2021,19 states, including Florida, Arizona and Texas have enacted 34 restrictive voting laws which negatively impact Latino voters. For example Texas State Legislature SB 1, will make it difficult for Spanish speakers to cast their vote, since they wont be able to receive language assistance. Additionally voters will have monthly citizenship checks and 24 hour voting drive thrus wull be banned. Republicans have argues that this bill is necessary in order to stop voter fraud.

Proposed Solution: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021

In reaction to the Shelby v. Holder (2013) decision, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (VRAA) was proposed to restore the "preclearance" aspect of the Voting Rights Act of 1975. The Department of Justic would decide whether a voting law violates voters' rights. If so, states will be covered by preclearance for the following 10 years.

States wold be covered by preclearance if:

• Their local governments have committed at least 10 voting tight violations within the past 25 years
• Subdivisions in non covered states have commited atleast three voting rights violations in the past 25 years

On November 3, 2021, the VRAA failed to pass the senate.It was proposed a second time on January 19, 2022 but it failed again.

Latino Vote in Presidential Elections (1980-2020)

Year	Democratic Candidate	Republican Candidate
1980	Jimmy Carter, 56%	Ronald Reagan, 35%
1984	Walter Mondale, 61%	Ronald Reagan, 37%
1988	Michael Dukakis, 69%	George H.W. Bush, 30%
1992	Bill Clinton, 61%	George H.W. Bush, 25%
1996	Bill Clinton, 72%	Bob Dole, 21%
2000	Al Gore, 62%	George W. Bush, 35%
2004	John Kerry, 58%	George W. Bush, 40%
2008	Barack Obama, 67%	John McCain, 31%
2012	Barack Obama, 71%	Mitt Romney, 27%
2016	Hilary Clinton, 65%	Donald Trump, 29%
2020	Joe Biden, 66%	Donald Trump, 32%

2023 Midterm Elections

The 2023 class of incoming Congress members is historic for the Latino community. This is the largest cohort of Latinos to be sworn into Congress. According to Vox News, 14 Latino candidates were elected to join the 34 incumbents, indicating that the 118th Congress class will be 11% Latino (34 Democrats, 11 Republicans). Representative Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz), commented , "Invest in Latino voters. Talk to Latino voters early and recruit Latinos and Latinas to run and not just in majority Latino districts", after the midterm outcomes.

Picture	Congressmen	Party	State	District	Term	Notes
Maxwell Frost	Maxwell Frost	Democratic	Florida	10th	2023-Present	Maxwell was elected at 25 years old, making him the first member of Gen-Z to be elected into Congress as well as the first Afro-Cuban to be sworn in.
Robert Garcia	Robert Garcia	Democratic	California	42nd	2023-Present	Garcia is the first openly LGBTQ+ immigrant ( from Peru) to be elected into Congress
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez	Marie Perez	Democratic	Washington	3rd	2023-Present	Perez is the first Latina Democrat to be sworn into Congress from Washington state.
Delia Catalina Ramirez	Delia Ramirez	Democratic	Illinois	3rd	2023-Present	Ramirez is the first Latina to represent Illinois in Congress.
Andrea Salinas	Andrea Salinas	Democratic	Oregon	6th	2023-Present	Salinas, alongside Deremer is one of the first Latinas to represent Oregon in Congress.
Yadira Caraveo	Yadira Caraveo	Democratic	Colorado	8th	2023-Present	Caraveo, is Colorados first Latina representative.
Greg Casar	Greg Casar	Democratic	Texas	35th	2023-Present	At age 25, Casar became the youngest Council Member in Austins history, before being elected into Congress.
Rob Menendez Jr.	Rob Menendez Jr.	Democratic	New Jersey	8th	2023-Present	Rob Menendez is the son of New Jersey Senator, Bob Menendez.
Gabriel Vasquez	Gabriel Vasquez	Democratic	New Mexico	2nd	2023-Present	Vasquez was the first in his family to be born in the United States, which motivated him to pursue politics and advocate for Latinos.
Lori Chavez DeRemer	Lori Chavez DeRemer	Republican	Oregon	5th	2023-Present	DeRemer was the first Republican woman to represent Oregon in the House of Representatives.
Juan Ciscomani	Juan Ciscomani	Republican	Arizona	6th	2023-Present	Juan Ciscomani was the first in his family to graduate from college, attending Pima Community College and the University of Arizona.
Monica De La Cruz	Monica De La Cruz	Republican	Texas	15th	2023-Present	De La Cruz is the first Republican to represent Texas' 15th Congressional district since 1903.
Anthony D'Esposito	Anthony D'Esposito	Republican	New York	4th	2023-Present	D'Esposito is the first Republican to publicly support George Santos' resignation after he gave out false biographical information.
Anna Paulina Luna	Anna Paulina Luna	Republican	Florida	13th	2023-Present	Luna is the first Mexican-American woman to be elected to Congress in Florida.
George Anthony Devolder Santos	George Santos	Republican	New York	3rd	2023-Present	Santos was apart of the first congressional race in which between two LGBTQ+ candidates competed against each other.

Media and Latino politics

Univision

Univision is the nations largest Spanish language television network. According to Della de Lafuente, Emmy award-winning journalist and former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists(NAHJ), Univision provides the Latino community resources such as for finding a doctor, school for their children, or job. . Since 2007, they have also initiated efforts to politically mobilize the Latino community. In 2007, the network made history by hosting and broadcasting the presidential debates in Spanish. In the 2008 primary elections, Univision released a "Ve y Vota en las Primarias" ("Get Out and Vote in the Primaries) 30-second ad to its viewers. Cesar Conde former chief strategy for Univision, stated that the network is making it a priority to help inform and motivate Latinos about the political process. The television network has continued on these efforts from national to local elections.

2016 Presidential campaign

During the 2016 presidential election, Univision carried out a voter registration campaign (#VotaConmigo) to increase Latino voter participation. In February of 2016, Univision announced its attempts to register over 3 million new Latino voters, based on the number of Latinos that became eligible to vote since the last presidential election in 2012. Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Univision's executive Vice President, stated to the Washington Post, "As a media company, we have the ability to educate and tell people whats happening on air and off air...We have the voice." Following their campaign announcement, the television network broadcasted commercials, encouraging people to call the citizenship hotline, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). In the next month, William Valdez, cohost of Despierta America, a morning segment, hosted a Facebook Live, talking about his U.S citizenship process. That day, NALEO received 20,000 calls, surpassing the regular days average of 100 calls.. Univision ended up registering over 200,000 new Latinos to vote in 2016.

Criticism

Some have questioned Univisions' voter registration campaigns. In a Washington Post op-ed, Callum Brochers, argued that Univisions campaigns are designed to help the Democratic party, not to help Latinos become politically involved. As evidence, Callum, revealed that Haim Saban, Univisions chairman, has consistently donated money to the Democratic party. In the 2016 election, Haim Saban donated $2.5 million to Prioritities USA Action, a super Political Action Committee(PAC), that supported Hilary Clintons campaign. Ken Oliver-Mendez, a director of an organization that tracks liberal bias, also shared that Univision broadcasts liberal leaning news as Republicans are not covered fairly. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trumps campaign called Univision, "Leftist propagranda". However, Univision has continuously stated that it is a non-partisan, television network.

Studies

In a study conducted by political scientists, Sergio I.Garcia-Rios and Matt A. Barreto, it was found that Univision and other Spanish language news outlets, created a pan ethnic identify amongst Latinos, which motivated them to vote in a historically large number in the 2012 presidential election. Since immigration was a main debate topic during election season, Latinos were reminded of their immigrant identity even as U.S citizens. Spanish news media influencers, such as Jorge Ramos, Maria Elena Salinas, and Pilar Marero, made frequent announcements to the Latino community, reporting the immigration issues that were at stake if they didnt vote. In culmination, these factors motivated Latinos to vote.

In another study, Swiss academic, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and American economist, Joel Waldfogel, tried to find whether Spanish language telivision networks increase Latino voter turnout. Their results were significant, indicating that the presence of Spanish language television networks like Univision, can increase civic engagement among Latinos.

Latino political ideology

Introduction

When Latinos first immigrate to the United States they dont immediately align themselves with a political party or ideology. According to political scientists, Lisa Garcia Bedolla and Ramon Michael Alvarez, newly naturalized Latinos are independent, but as they become socialized into American politics, they begin to lean toward a political party. Historically, Mexican Americans attatch themselves to the Democratic Party where as Cubans and Puerto Ricans associate themselves with the Democratic party. Studies have tried to explain why differences in poltical idoelogy exist within the Hispanic population, depending on national origin, gender, religion. Even though Republicans have historically outspent Democrats on trying to gain Latino Support.

Democratic support

Since 1984, the majority of Latinos have supported and identified with the Democratic Party. In every election since 1984, over 57% of Latinos have voted for Democratic presidential candidates. A study conducted by Political Scientists, Leonie Huddy, Lilliana Mason, and S. Nechama Horwitz, tries to explain why Latinos have historically preferred the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. They find that those who identify strongly with their Hispanic identity and believe the ethnic group is discriminated against, strongly supports the Democratic part. This was observed heavily in the 2012 election when the Republican party expressed an anti-Latino and immigration rhetoric, which must have motivated people to support the oppositve part, the Democrats. The results also showed that Mexican, Central Amerricans and Dominican Latinos were more likely than Cubans to support the Democratic Party, given that Cubans experience a different naturalization process, because they can apply for the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows them to become permanent residents after being in the U.S. for a year. Another study, confirmed that anti-immigrant rhetoric emotianally angered and drove Latinos to vote against Trump during the 2016 election. An additional explanation for Latino Democratoc support is provided by political scientist, Angel Saavedra Ciscneros, who argues that Latinos are Democratic because they are most interested on economic and migration issues, which the party adresses.

Republican and Democratic Debate

In recent years, multiple news outlets have published stories, that Latinos are shifting toward the Republican party. Lionel Sosa, an adversitisng executive, told Ronald Reagan, "Latinos are Republican, they just dont know it yet". Wheras Senate Democrat Harry Reid, who in 2010 said, "I don’t know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, OK. Do I need to say more?". Angel Saavedra Cisneros, a political scientist, published a book called, "Latino Republicans", to cover the debates on politcal ideologies.

Religion

According to the Pew Research Center, 77% of Latinos or Christian. A lot of Republicans, claim that Latinos religiousity should make them support Republicans conservative policy stances. Academics have tried to understand whether this is true. In a 2000 study, political scientist's, Sean M.Bolks, Diana Evans, J.L. Polinard, Robert D. Wrinkle, discovered that Latinos are opposed to abortions, like Republicans. Political scientist, Marisa A. Abrajano, found that these conservative positions is what drew Latinos to vote for George W. Bush in the 2004, presidential election, the largest percentage of votes (40%) the Republican party has received from Latinos. Some have just argued that Latinos liked George W. Bush as a candidate, rather than his party. Wheras Political scientist, Catherine E. Wilson, has argued that churches push Latinos towards the Democratic party. Outside of political idoelogy, researchers have also tried to determine whether church attendance increases Latinos participation in American Politics. In study conducted by researchers, Sarah Allen Gershon, Adrian D. Pantoja and J.Benjamin Taylor, they found that church attendance does coorelate to civic engagement, however other factors (generational starus, economic status and employment) can affect this. Given that later generations of Latinos attend church less, these factors will determine whether they are politically engages or not.

Misleading

Other studies have tried to provide possible reasons as to why Latinos are Democrat even though align with conservative values. Eric Gonzalez Juenke, a poltical science researcher, found that most conservative Latinos are not citizens, therefore they cant vote and support the Republican party in elections. Therefore citizenship needs to be considered when intervieing Latinos about their political opinions, as they can be misleading.

Latino Gender Gap

Latinas have historically voted for more Democratic than Latino men since 1980s. Christina Bejarano, a political scientisit, has found that Latinas become ideologically liberal as generations pass, wheras men hold on to conservative views. In 1988, researcher, Jones Correa, tried to find explanations for this phenomenon. He found that men experience downward mobility once they migrate to the United States, wheras women have upward mobility. Therefore men try to hold on to conversative values, to validate themselves and women try to become more independent beings. Other studies have tried to explain this political gender gap as a result of moving from a traditional Latin American country to a the egalitarian United States.

Political Engagement

In the 2020 presidential election, Latino turnout surpassed passed records. Specifically half of eligible Latinos voted.. This increased mobilization in 2016 and 2020 has been explained by various studies as a result of Donald Trumps xenophobic attitude and targetIing the Latino population.

Cubans and Republicans

Historically, Cubans have been strong supporters of the Republican party. In the 2016 presidential election, over half of the Cuban population, voted for Donald Trump. Alejandro Portes and Rafael Mozo, have tried to explain this Republican support as a fear for Communism.