Voters are heading to the polls this morning in Arizona where the hot button issue of immigration has taken center stage throughout the campaign.
The primaries for US Senate on both the Democratic and Republican sides have been grabbing national headlines. Republican incumbent Sen. John McCain faces a fired up opponent, J.D. Hayworth, who has challenged him early on with the conservative base. The Republican race has often been injected with vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric by both candidates vying for favor with voters.
The general election could see the Republican winner going up against a Latino candidate. Randy Parraz, a community activist and workers advocate, is the only Latino candidate for US Senate this election in the entire country.
“I could win the primary on the Latino vote alone,” Parraz said.
The union organizer decided to run shortly after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the controversial anti-immigration bill SB 1070 into law.
“Arizona has become ground zero on immigration reform and ground zero on this whole discussion about 1070,” Parraz said.
The momentum has only grown leading up toward today’s primary. Parraz, who entered the election only a few months ago, is within two points of his opponent Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman in the most recent poll.
The state of Florida is also holding highly contested primaries today. The congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who decided to run for his brother’s more Republican leaning district, could very well turn blue after today.
Democrat Joe Garcia, a former director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Minority Economic Impact, could pick up the seat he almost won a couple of years ago from Diaz-Balart.
“We deserve better representation,” Garcia said.
In Parraz’ case, it will be his first bid for public office. Running a grassroots campaign that came together amidst the backdrop of SB 1070, Parraz has won the support from Latino workers, church goers, and every day people. Parraz could very well insert himself into the general election with Latino voter registration up and Arizona residents galvanized by the anti-immigrant sentiment in their state.
“It’s our time to organize. It’s our time to raise our voice. It’s our time to fight back,” Parraz said.
This is very exciting! Good luck to Mr. Parraz. I pray that he may win because we need people like him who will stand up and fight for us!