National Journal
By Lisa Hagen
July 13, 2015
Since
the 2012 election, many Republicans have ramped up efforts to engage
Latino voters, whom Mitt Romney lost by more than 40 percentage points
that year. But progress
on Hispanic engagement has been slow and could unravel easily—one
reason why party leaders are so alarmed about Donald Trump's recent
focus and rhetoric on immigration.
Trump
stands little chance in the Republican presidential primaries, but the
eventual nominee will be an underdog in the fight to win over Latinos in
2016. For some Republican
members of Congress, appealing to Latino voters has long been a
necessity, not a choice, and they are already sounding the alarm for the
presidential campaigns.
"If
a Republican candidate doesn't outperform Governor Romney on Hispanic
support, it's going to be very difficult to win," said freshman Rep.
Carlos Curbelo, whose South
Florida district is nearly 70 percent Latino.
The
effort starts with getting out in front of Latino voters immediately
and starting to build a long-term relationship, according to Rep. Mike
Coffman, who represents
a melting-pot district outside of Denver. Coffman, a one-time
immigration hard-liner, has softened his tone in the last few years and
made an effort in both his campaign and official duties to engage with
minority communities. That, Coffman says, is the only
way to "break the narrative" that Republicans are anti-immigrant.
"It's
not just about getting in there while you're running for office, it's
about being there when you're in office after the election," Coffman
said. "I was shocked by
how deep [the anti-immigrant narrative] is among these immigrant
groups, much deeper than Republicans think here in Washington, D.C. So I
think it's just very important to be in those communities."
President
Obama carried both Curbelo's district and Coffman's district in 2008
and 2012. In fact, even as Obama's nationwide share of the vote dropped
in 2012, Curbelo's
district was one of a handful of areas—many of them heavily
Hispanic—where Obama improved relative to 2008. But Coffman survived his
2012 reelection and breezed to victory in the 2014 midterms, while
Curbelo was elected to his first term by a narrow margin
last year.
Curbelo
has already endorsed Jeb Bush for president, while Coffman has said he
doesn't plan on backing a candidate during the GOP nominating process.
But both have advice
for the eventual nominee on chasing Latinos' votes in their states and
elsewhere next year. In addition to getting involved in Hispanic
communities early, both House members counseled the Republican
presidential candidates to address immigration reform and,
after that, focus on specific policy issues to connect with voters.
Curbelo
points to his support for immigration reform as something fellow
Republicans should also take up. "In my district, there are a lot of
independent Hispanic voters
who would be thrilled to support a good Republican nominee because they
share our values."
"They
can't ignore the need for immigration reform," Coffman said. "I think
that's probably the most important thing, and they have to be able to
speak and talk about
it."
Many
Republicans argue that Hispanic voters will agree with them on other
issues even if they can disagree on immigration. But Curbelo called
immigration reform a gateway
issue for Latinos.
"If
they feel that the Republican candidate is either anti-immigrant or is
not sensitive to this immigration issue, then the Republican nominee
won't even have the chance
to win those people's votes," Curbelo said.
Curbelo
praised both Bush, the candidate he is backing, and home-state Sen.
Marco Rubio for "show[ing] a willingness to be constructive on this
issue," though Curbelo
said he's unsure where Rubio stands on the issue now that his reform
bill from the last Congress failed.
But
Curbelo also mentioned other presidential hopefuls—including Scott
Walker, who just officially announced his campaign—who Curbelo said
"have reversed their positions"
on immigration reform.
Meanwhile,
Coffman said getting into the communities will help the candidates
tailor their campaigns to winning Hispanic votes. "You have to have an
appeal that brings
conservatives along but gets the center in a district like mine,"
Coffman said. "… By understanding their issues, I think you understand
that there's a conservative path that I think really fits within the
Republican Party to bring them in, in terms of accomplishing
what their aspirations are."
Curbelo
said his experience running as an education reformer could be useful.
"I had a record of reform on the school board and on helping to improve
the quality of education,"
he said. "And nothing is more important to Hispanic voters than that.
Hispanics by and large are people who came to this country to work, to
contribute, and to make sure that their children would be better off
than they were. That's as American as it gets."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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