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By QUINT FORGEY
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden hasn’t spoken to one of the
highest profile Latino politicians in the country, Julián Castro, since
he won. | John Locher/AP Photo
Joe Biden won the primary in spite of, not because of, his efforts to
turn out Latinos. Two months later, Hispanic leaders are waiting on his
campaign to deliver on its promises to do more.
In interviews, more than 20 Latino political operatives, lawmakers, and activists said they don’t see a game plan from Biden to marshal Hispanic voters effectively in the fall. They said there’s little evidence the campaign is devoting the resources or hiring the staff that task will require — all the more crucial during a pandemic, when reaching and mobilizing Latino voters through in-person canvassing is nearly impossible.
The campaign has refused to release statistics on the diversity of its staff — details many of his former opponents shared early in the primary — and a majority of a dozen recent high-level hires were white. And Biden has neither spoken to nor been formally endorsed by one of the highest-profile Latino politicians in the country, Julián Castro, since he won.
In interviews, more than 20 Latino political operatives, lawmakers, and activists said they don’t see a game plan from Biden to marshal Hispanic voters effectively in the fall. They said there’s little evidence the campaign is devoting the resources or hiring the staff that task will require — all the more crucial during a pandemic, when reaching and mobilizing Latino voters through in-person canvassing is nearly impossible.
The campaign has refused to release statistics on the diversity of its staff — details many of his former opponents shared early in the primary — and a majority of a dozen recent high-level hires were white. And Biden has neither spoken to nor been formally endorsed by one of the highest-profile Latino politicians in the country, Julián Castro, since he won.
Biden had a tense relationship with many Latino groups during the
primary, stemming largely from his connection to the Obama
administration's aggressive deportation policy. The former vice
president recently acknowledged that that policy was misguided and he has moved toward progressives on immigration.
But the campaign's disconnect with Latinos appears to be based more on lack of execution than on policy. Cash-strapped coming out of the primary and hemmed in by the coronavirus, its efforts to reach Latino voters have been lackluster, critics in the community say. The fact that Latinos weren't central to his primary strategy has meant Biden's campaign has more ground to make up.
“I do not think that the Biden campaign thinks that Latinos are part of their path to victory,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, the former digital organizing director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “If you don't think Latinos are part of your path to victory, then you do what they're doing.”
Latinos are on track to be the largest nonwhite voting bloc in November, with 32 million expected to be eligible to vote. Two-thirds of those eligible Latino voters live in just five states, including the potential battlegrounds of Florida, Arizona, and, to a lesser extent, Texas, according to Pew Research. If Biden has any hope of turning out young voters who flocked to his chief rival Bernie Sanders, he’ll need Latinos — 61 percent of the population is under 35.
“Right now I can't tell what their strategy is with the Latino community. I just don't see it,” said one Latino lawmaker who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “They have a lot of people out there willing to help, but they're not engaging many people outside of the ones who were part of their campaign originally.”
The campaign has made some moves lately that indicate it’s paying attention. Biden held a town hall last week with the League of United Latin American Citizens decrying conditions at meatpacking plants. “Todos Con Biden,” his Latino organizing arm, holds virtual events roughly twice a month. And Dr. Jill Biden has started hosting weekly calls with a rotating cast of four to five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Last weekend, Biden spoke to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for the first time since he clinched the nomination, as she prepared to join a "unity task force" established by the former vice president and Sanders.
After losing among Latinos in Nevada and California, Biden’s campaign made a concerted appeal to the demographic in Arizona and Florida ahead of those states' March 17 primaries. But as coronavirus spread and the campaign revamped for the general election, including hiring a new campaign manager, change has been slow.
A contingent of prominent critics said much more is needed.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Biden's campaign has demonstrated “little or no activity” in the Hispanic community. "The objective isn’t to win the Hispanic vote — [Biden will] do that — but to keep it above 65 percent and to maximize Latino turnout," Richardson, who is Latino, said. "If we go to 58 or 57 percent with Hispanics, we’re in trouble.”
“The Trump Hispanic effort,” Richardson added, “is much more active.”
Biden last spoke to Julián Castro when the former Housing and Urban Development secretary dropped out of the race in January, according to a person familiar with their dealings. Castro declined to comment.
But the campaign's disconnect with Latinos appears to be based more on lack of execution than on policy. Cash-strapped coming out of the primary and hemmed in by the coronavirus, its efforts to reach Latino voters have been lackluster, critics in the community say. The fact that Latinos weren't central to his primary strategy has meant Biden's campaign has more ground to make up.
“I do not think that the Biden campaign thinks that Latinos are part of their path to victory,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, the former digital organizing director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “If you don't think Latinos are part of your path to victory, then you do what they're doing.”
Latinos are on track to be the largest nonwhite voting bloc in November, with 32 million expected to be eligible to vote. Two-thirds of those eligible Latino voters live in just five states, including the potential battlegrounds of Florida, Arizona, and, to a lesser extent, Texas, according to Pew Research. If Biden has any hope of turning out young voters who flocked to his chief rival Bernie Sanders, he’ll need Latinos — 61 percent of the population is under 35.
“Right now I can't tell what their strategy is with the Latino community. I just don't see it,” said one Latino lawmaker who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “They have a lot of people out there willing to help, but they're not engaging many people outside of the ones who were part of their campaign originally.”
The campaign has made some moves lately that indicate it’s paying attention. Biden held a town hall last week with the League of United Latin American Citizens decrying conditions at meatpacking plants. “Todos Con Biden,” his Latino organizing arm, holds virtual events roughly twice a month. And Dr. Jill Biden has started hosting weekly calls with a rotating cast of four to five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Last weekend, Biden spoke to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for the first time since he clinched the nomination, as she prepared to join a "unity task force" established by the former vice president and Sanders.
After losing among Latinos in Nevada and California, Biden’s campaign made a concerted appeal to the demographic in Arizona and Florida ahead of those states' March 17 primaries. But as coronavirus spread and the campaign revamped for the general election, including hiring a new campaign manager, change has been slow.
A contingent of prominent critics said much more is needed.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Biden's campaign has demonstrated “little or no activity” in the Hispanic community. "The objective isn’t to win the Hispanic vote — [Biden will] do that — but to keep it above 65 percent and to maximize Latino turnout," Richardson, who is Latino, said. "If we go to 58 or 57 percent with Hispanics, we’re in trouble.”
“The Trump Hispanic effort,” Richardson added, “is much more active.”
Biden last spoke to Julián Castro when the former Housing and Urban Development secretary dropped out of the race in January, according to a person familiar with their dealings. Castro declined to comment.
Meanwhile, a recent Newsweek report that the campaign was planning $55 million program targeting Hispanic men angered some Democrats, who said any such initiative should not focus on one gender. The campaign denied the report but said it is planning to roll out a robust outreach program.
Biden’s campaign has picked up its communication with Latino leaders and organizations to a degree, including youth-led activist groups like United We Dream and Make the Road Action. But many representatives said they're waiting for him to commit to their preferred policies and provide details of a comprehensive plan to engage Latinos of different backgrounds.
During a recent call between campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon and a group of House Democrats, Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), whose South Florida district is more than 70 percent Hispanic, raised the issue of Latino outreach.
Shalala asked O’Malley Dillon what the campaign is doing to mobilize Latinos in swing districts like hers. According to Shalala and other sources on the call, O’Malley Dillon said Latinos are critical to the campaign's strategy, including having a diverse staff, but that details are still being ironed out. Shalala said she was satisfied by the answer and that she has access to the highest levels of the campaign.
"Their work has to be persistent and persuasive,” Shalala said, adding that spending by outside groups on Latino mobilization isn’t enough. Priorities USA, one of the main Democratic super PACs, has committed seven figures for digital outreach to Latino voters in Florida and Arizona.
Cristobal Alex, a senior adviser to Biden, said the coronavirus has hindered the campaign’s ability to ramp up its Latino outreach effort. He noted that O’Malley Dillon joined the campaign in March just as the virus was forcing people to shelter at home.
“The Latino engagement is ongoing, but it's not done in a typical fashion as you would during a typical formal election,” he said.
“The campaign leadership and especially the vice president take very seriously the Latino community,” he added, “and there will be a significant scaling up to ensure that we are competing for every vote.” Hispanic women in particular will be key, Alex said.
Notwithstanding their broader criticism of the campaign’s efforts, several lawmakers and strategists privately welcomed the addition of O’Malley Dillon to the campaign, saying she understands the urgency of engaging Latinos and the nuances of pulling it off.
Of course, Biden’s approach — for any of its perceived shortcomings — didn't prevent him from winning the primary. But it wasn’t until Arizona and Florida, which came after he whipped most of his opponents on Super Tuesday, that Biden spent significant money on TV trying to win over Latinos.
Biden didn’t focus on Latino voters during the primary “because he didn’t need to, and that sets him further back,” said one Democratic strategist who focuses on Latino voters.
Amanda Renteria, the former national political director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, said Biden has “done a good job with the traditional Latino leaders,” but needs to do more to build alliances with next-generation leaders, like Sanders did. After failing to gain traction among Latinos in 2016, Sanders invested heavily in Hispanic outreach this time, contributing to a landslide victory in Nevada.
“Sanders’ long-term, intentional investment in the Latino community now stands as a model,” Renteria said. “Did Biden do that early on? No. He leaned on his long-term relationships he already had.
"That’s the challenge for Biden now — building trust as fast as possible at a time when we’re far away from each other. You can’t start early enough.”
At least one group that's already endorsed Biden, Voto Latino, is still waiting to see more from him. “Our biggest challenge is that they still aren’t talking to our demographic and that’s young Latinos. Young Latinos move their families," said Maria Teresa Kumar, the head of the group.
Some Democrats worry that Latino and African American men are trending away from the party. One Democratic pollster cited 2018 results in Florida and Georgia, where the share of black and Latino voters who backed Democratic candidates dropped compared with 2016. Others noted that nonwhite voter participation was down in relative terms during the 2020 primaries compared to 2016.
Trump's campaign isn't pursuing the votes of Latino men because as a group they're conservative, said Morales Rocketto, now executive director of Care in Action, "but because there has been little to no investment [by Democrats] in our community."
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