Less than two months to go before the mid-term elections, the two major parties have begun to mobilize the electorate. And that is where the Hispanic vote and support are important. The number of Hispanics eligible to vote is growing, and the major parties are trying to attract them.
The Republican Party is aware of the need to attract the Hispanic vote and wants to recruit more candidates in the community.Their vote is less rigid: it varies more than that of other communities and there is not as much party loyalty and affinity.
Ahead of the November mid-term elections, the GOP is running new Hispanic candidates to wear down the Biden Administration and change the direction of the country in the face of Joe Biden's mismanagement.
Monica de la Cruz and Cassy Garcia are two of the record 43 Republican candidates for the midterms, and they hope to join Mayra Flores in continuing the ideological shift in South Texas. Raul Labrador is seeking to become Idaho's new attorney general, and New Mexico Republicans have a large number of Hispanic candidates for the state House.
The GOP's bid for more Hispanics and the Hispanic vote is strong, even though it already has strong representation in both the federal and state and local chambers.
Senate
Currently, the Republicans have two Hispanic senators with great importance within the party. They are Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both of whom have a long political track record and the same goal: to reclaim the American dream.
Ted Cruz took office as senator from Texas on January 3, 2013, Son of a Cuban immigrant, he worked at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission during the Bush Administration. Cruz was attorney general of Texas until he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
For his part, Marco Rubio has represented Florida in the Senate since January 3, 2011. Although he was born in Miami, his parents emigrated from Cuba in search of a better life. At the state level, Rubio was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2009. During this period, he served as president of the Florida House from 2006 to 2008.
In 2010 he announced his candidacy to represent his state in the Senate and defeated former Florida Governor Charlie Crist in the Republican primary.
House of Representatives
Several of the congressmen belonging to the Republican Party are of Hispanic origin, specifically from Mexico or Cuba. Florida is the state with the largest number of representatives of Hispanic origin, three in total: Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos A. Giménez, who emigrated to the United States after the Cuban Revolution when he was six years old, and journalist María Elvira Salazar.
María Elvira Salazar
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Texas is the state with the second highest number of Hispanic Republican representatives: Tony Gonzales y Mayra FloresMayra Flores, who is the first Mexican-born woman in history to hold a seat in the House of Representatives.
Flores is gaining great weight within the party and U.S. politics. She won her seat after being the top vote-getter in her Texas district, which had been Democratic for more than 100 years.
Other GOP members of Congress of Hispanic origin include Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Mike Garcia (California), Alex Mooney (West Virginia) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington).
At the state or local level
Florida is one of the states with the largest Hispanic presence and where the largest Cuban community resides. In addition to their Hispanic representation in the Senate and House of Representatives, Jeanette Núñez, a Hispanic, is the Lieutenant Governor of Florida.
Also Francis Xavier Suarez, who is the mayor of Miami. In office since 2017, he gives the coincidence that his father was also the alderman of Miami between 1997 and 1998, although he belonged to the Democratic Party.
Another case is Susana Martinez, who was the governor of New Mexico between 2011 and 2019, and Romualdo Pacheco, who served as lieutenant governor and governor of Florida between 1871 and 1875.
Historical
Within the trajectory of the Republican Party, we find historical facts in reference to its candidates. Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo was the first politician to represent Latin America in the U.S. Senate.
Also in the House of Representatives, where Romualdo Pacheco was the first Hispanic representative in history (for California) and Barbara Vucanovich the first woman congresswoman (for Nevada).
