With a record 32 million eligible voters this year in the United States, Latinos have become the largest minority voting group in the country for the first time. The Hispanic community indeed played an essential role in the last US Election, according to a panel of Latino experts in a webinar hosted by the Observatory on US-Hispanic Politics, one of five observatories under the aegis of the IE School of Global and Public Affairs´ Transatlantic Initiative.
This online session, held the same day that the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden´s presidential victory and the COVID19 vaccination campaign began in the US, was co-hosted with The Hispanic Council, an independent think-tank working to strengthen cultural ties between the United States and Spain. The Hispanic Council published a report on the impact of the Hispanic Vote on the 2020 US Elections today, 15 December.
Daniel Ureña, president of The Hispanic Council and Chair of the Observatory on US-Hispanic Politics, opened this passionate and intense debate with Luis Gutiérrez, Former member of Congress (1993 to 2018), Art Estopinan, President of The Estopinan Group, and César Martínez, Political Consultant and President of MAS Consulting USA. It was moderated by Vanessa Jaklitsch, a Spanish correspondent in Washington D.C.
“Hispanic mobilization has been key once again in this election,” said Luis Gutiérrez, highlighting that Arizona was won thanks to Hispanic voters. He underlined that Latinos are not monolithic, but a very diverse community depending on their perspectives and where they come from. Gutierrez disagreed with the idea that Latinos were a sleeping giant until now. “They have always been a giant.”
win the Hispanic vote in States like Florida and Texas and pointed out that in his opinion, both parties won´t take the Latino vote for granted ever again.
Mr. Martínez told the audience about his first-hand experience in the US 2020 Election and the strategies used in the Lincoln Project, a nationwide movement of Republicans with the mission to defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism. “We have been working for the empowerment of Latinos,” he said. “They need to participate not only in presidential elections but also in regional and local elections. The more they participate, the more power they will have.”
“15 percent of the working population in the USA is Latino. It is very important that we empower them” he added. “Let´s make Latinos part of the solution.”
Art Estopinan, President of The Estopinan Group, a government affairs and advocacy firm that provides consulting and advocacy for clients before Federal and state governments on a variety of policy matters, said that many Hispanic communities have mobilized in favor of Trump, such as the Cuban and Venezuelan communities, and have been key in states such as Florida. He also highlighted that Trump had better results among Hispanics than in 2016, largely because of economic policies that had improved the standard of living of Hispanics.
“The reality is that the Latino Community has supported Trump everywhere in the country. They have experienced the best and biggest economic boom in recent history and less employment in their communities” he continued.
On the other hand, Estopinian insisted that the American people have “legitimate concerns” that this election “was stolen” and compared the situation with the one experienced in Bolivia with Evo Morales. “History will determine if it was an election against Donald Trump” (a kind of referendum) he concluded.
Vanessa Jaklitsch highlighted two issues that have been fundamental for the Hispanic voters this year: the pandemic and the economy.
In fact, Latinos are one of the most affected communities due to COVID19, said César Martínez, who believes that COVID19 is something that made Latinos vote the way they did. “Trump’s lack of empathy was a mistake. If he hadn’t politicized the pandemic, I think he could have been re-elected.”
Gutiérrez went further and said that Latinos are “5 times more likely to be infected and die because of COVID19 than a white person” and accused President Trump of mishandling COVID. “The US is the most dangerous country in the world when it comes to this pandemic. We have over 20% of the infections and deaths. We cannot be proud of this.”
Estopinian ended by insisting on the need to unify a divided country and expressed his wish that the Biden Administration would be able to bring America together.
“We don’t need any more division, socialist ideas don’t work. Look at Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua,” he said. “The US needs more education and private sector initiatives, more innovation, technology, engineering, mathematics. If we want to continue being the greatest country in the world, we have to focus on this. With politics, this country will not move forward.”