Flush with a $22 million cash infusion in five days, the Biden campaign says it’s readying Latino-oriented “six-figure” ad buys in the March 17 primary states in Florida, Arizona and Illinois in the hopes of killing off one of Bernie Sanders’ few mainstays of support. The campaign is hiring and deploying Latino organizers in Arizona and Florida, both swing states crucial to stopping President Donald Trump. And it’s racking up endorsements from prominent elected leaders.
On Friday, Rep. Ruben Gallego — a well-known progressive in Arizona — threw in with Biden even though he told POLITICO he may align with Sanders on a lot of policy positions.
“What I care about is beating Donald Trump,” said Gallego, the first major Latino in the state to endorse, joining Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and Senate candidate Mark Kelly. Gallego plans to help Biden organize ahead of the Arizona primary and said that Biden’s connections to Latinos in Arizona run deep, going back to the Obama-Biden battles with the state when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted immigration raids that racially profiled Latinos.
The burst of activity is the clearest sign that Biden’s campaign appears to have taken its losses with Latinos — and the warnings from allies like Cardenas — seriously. After dominating among Latinos in Nevada, Sanders won 49 percent of the Latino vote in California compared to Biden’s 22 percent. In Texas, Sanders beat Biden with Latinos by 13 percentage points.
“There is a clear recognition that we could have performed better amongst Latinos in the primary so far,” said Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), a Biden endorser, “and that we have to do a lot better job moving forward in getting Latino voters enthusiastic for our campaign.”
In Florida, the campaign is in talks for an endorsement from Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell — the state’s first foreign-born congresswoman (Ecuador) — and has broad support from local and state Hispanic lawmakers.
Additionally, Biden’s campaign is preparing to dispatch his Puerto Rican backers to Florida’s Boricua community ahead of Puerto Rico’s March 29 primary. Co-chairs of Biden’s Puerto Rican council include the island’s former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla.
Puerto Rico’s primary — which offers nearly as many delegates as Iowa and New Hampshire combined — is also key for Sanders campaign as they try to keep pace with a newly energized Biden team. And Sanders has Puerto Rican star power of his own in San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, a gubernatorial candidate on the island who rocketed to national fame after battling with President Trump over the administration’s Hurricane Maria response.
In Florida, home to a diverse Latino population, Biden’s campaign plans to use Sanders’ self-described democratic socialist label as a cudgel, hitting Sanders for failing to condemn former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro without qualification, and for initially refusing to label Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro a “dictator.”
“Florida, given its diversity and complexity, will have multiple messages from us targeting Latinos in various communities with a culturally competent approach. And one of those things will certainly be contrasting the vice president’s positions with where Bernie is on issues related to his approach toward dictatorships — Venezuela, Cuba, all of it,” said Cristobal Alex, Biden’s senior adviser and the former president of the Latino Victory Project, which recently endorsed Biden.
In contrast, Sanders’ campaign is staying the course.
“We’re going to use the same model that worked for us in Texas, California and especially in Nevada to be working directly in the community in Arizona and in Florida,” said Chuck Rocha, the architect of Sanders grassroots turnout operation.
“Running a culturally competent Latino outreach program is a bedrock of our success,” Rocha said. Sanders campaign spent millions in Nevada and California, reaching Latinos across TV, radio, mailers and by hosting community events like soccer tournaments and Lotería nights.
Acknowledging the losses across Super Tuesday, Rocha said the Sanders campaign is working to broaden his base but is still counting on the enthusiasm of younger voters and various progressive groups aligned with the Vermont senator. Rocha pointed to the Florida arm of Our Revolution, a group founded by Sanders but the campaign says is “not directly” tied to them.
Though Biden’s campaign is optimistic about its prospects in the six states that vote Tuesday, they are ready for a prolonged primary fight and hope to break Sanders’ strength with Latinos in Arizona and Florida in less than two weeks time. Multiple House Democrats close to the campaign said they’ve been in talks with Biden’s staff since Super Tuesday to discuss changes concerning Latino outreach.
Exit, entrance and pre-election polls have so far showed Biden performing better than Sanders with older voters of all races and Sanders outpacing Biden with younger voters. So far, younger voters have not turned out at higher rates than usual, while older voters continue to overperform at the polls, benefiting Biden.
With a moderate older electorate and a high percentage of black voters, Florida generally favors Biden. Arizona, a newly emerging swing state, also has a relatively moderate electorate and, Biden’s campaign argues, that goes for the state’s Latinos as well when compared to those in Nevada or California.
“Latinos are more moderate in Arizona than a lot of people think,” said veteran Democratic lawyer Roy Herrera, who advises Kelly’s campaign. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a draw with Latino voters or if Bernie only does slightly better. It’s probably going to be closer than Texas and farther from [the margin in] California and Nevada.“
Source: politico.com
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