The Power of the Hispanic Voter
Democrats were hurt in the midterm election by low turnouts or faltering support from voters who were young, black or female. But overwhelming support from Hispanic voters appears to have helped elect Democratic senators in Nevada, California, Colorado and possibly Washington State. Hispanic voters may have kept the Senate in Democratic hands.
Several Hispanic Republicans were also elected, including two governors, Brian Sandoval of Nevada and Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and a senator, Marco Rubio of Florida. But, over all, Hispanics voted at a rate of 2 to 1 for Democrats, according to several polls, and many were stirred to action by viciously anti-immigrant ads or comments made by Republican candidates.
Eligible Hispanic voters represent about 9 percent of the national electorate, a slight increase over previous years, but the percentages are much higher in the West, climbing to 22 percent in California. They are less predictably partisan than other ethnic groups and the two major parties have long contested for their votes. Early polls had suggested that many were disappointed in both parties for failing to act on immigration reform, and it appeared that they might sit out the midterms.
Then came a series of ads by Republican candidates like Sharron Angle, who was running for the United States Senate in Nevada. One of hers depicted Hispanics sneaking over the border, carrying weapons and appearing in police mug shots. Tom Tancredo, whose anti-immigrant sentiment was already known, ran for governor of Colorado by telling workers that their jobs were threatened by illegal immigration. Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor of California, pandered to the same sentiment by saying her former housekeeper, an illegal immigrant, should have been deported.
Now Hispanic political activists had galvanizing issues. Groups like Mi Familia Vota, La Raza and Lulac spent the last weeks of the campaign organizing voters against these diatribes. A tracking poll conducted by Latino Decisions, a polling organization, found that the number of very enthusiastic Hispanic voters shot up to 58 percent on Oct. 25 from 40 percent a month earlier.
As the Hispanic electorate continues to grow faster than the overall population in the years ahead, the 2010 election should be a useful lesson. Anti-immigrant demagoguery occasionally works, as it did in a number of Republican victories in Arizona this year. But more often it will produce an angry reaction among a growing group of committed voters.