Volunteers make call as part of Unidos con McCain. "I have to prove to them that I am a senator for all of the Arizonans and their community is a most important part of it," John McCain said. Listen:
Latinos make up about 25 percent of registered voters in Arizona, a 2014 U.S. Census Bureau report said.
For candidates like Sen. John McCain, that is an important number.
“I have to prove to them that I am a senator for all of the Arizonans, and their community is a most important part of it,” said McCain.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump put the Latino community front and center early in this year’s race for the White House. In his first campaign speech, Trump accused Mexico of sending drug dealers, rapists and other criminals to the United States.
Other Republicans have taken strong stands on illegal immigration, and McCain said that type of rhetoric hurts his campaign.
“With a lot of the comments that have been made by some of the Republican candidates for president, that means I have work very hard to reaffirm my connection with the Latino community, “ McCain said.
To overcome those comments, McCain’s re-election campaign launched “Unidos con McCain” – United with McCain. His Hispanic outreach director, Ana Pereira said the campaign will build a coalition of Latinos.
Young Latino voters are a particular challenge, Pereira said. She said like other millennials, young Latino voters don’t turn out to vote, but they are the fastest growing group.
“With millennials it is very interesting because you have a message that is Latino but it is in English, it is bilingual,” Pereira said. “That is different than your older generation which is primarily Spanish speaking.”
McCain’s effort is not unique. All major campaigns target Latino voters.
The Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign holds phone banks and other outreach efforts focused specifically on Latino voters.
Sanders’ Latino outreach strategist, Erika Andiola, said community identity is key.
“It’s one thing to go and do a commercial in Spanish. It is another thing to have Latinos call Latinos and empower them,” said Andiola.
Nationwide, more than half of Latinos tend to voter for Democrats. But they are not necessarily a bloc.
“The thing is, of course, is we all have multiple identities. We don’t wear just one hat, so one can be a woman and Hispanic,” said University of Arizona communication Professor Kate Kenski.
Elected Latinos and others in the community say not recognizing the differences within the Latino community is a mistake.
The latest issue rankings from the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda shows economic security is the number one issue for Latinos. Education and immigration rank as the second and third issues. But even those numbers are generalizations.
On feelings of immigration, it happens that younger Hispanics are much more likely to favor reforms and paths to citizenship than older generations,” said Kenski.
Because Latinos lean to the Democrats but are diverse, Republicans may not be looking for a majority.
In 2000, George W. Bush won about 40% of the Latino vote. University of Arizona political scientist, John Garcia, said Republicans see that as the number they need to add to their base in order to be successful.
In recent elections, exit polls show that about half of Latinos who are eligible to vote will turn out on Election Day.
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