Last month, Joaquín Castro went to Center City and down to the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia to choose Hillary Clinton as this year’s Democratic presidential nominee. Before he did so, though, Castro went to the Caplan Center for Performing Arts on South Broad St. where he addressed a group of potential voters who are arguably the most important demographic for Clinton’s hope of securing the presidency come November.
Castro, along with fellow congressman Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, spoke to a group gathered for an event held by the organization Voto Latino on issues facing the Hispanic community and the importance of going to the polls on Election Day. “The more we register, the more we are able to participate in the political process,” María Teresa Kumar, the president of Voto Latino, said at the event.
Throughout the city of Philadelphia, which hosted this year’s Democratic National Convention, surrogates and supporters of Clinton have been making the rounds of meetings, events and caucuses in the hope of rallying Latinos to register to vote. The same day Castro spoke to the Voto Latino, his twin brother, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julían Castro, was one block north speaking to a group of Latino leaders at the Crystal Tea Room about the importance of the Hispanic vote.
“I’m confident Latino voter turnout will go up significantly,” the HUD secretary told a group of reporters following his speech. “We see it in the registrations that are happening in different states. I believe it can go into the 50’s and if that happens then particularly in swing states like Florida, Colorado Nevada and even Virginia, where there is a growing Latino population, Hillary Clinton will win those.” That’s the hope of the Clinton campaign that the Hispanic community will come to the polls in droves this fall.
Much has been made this election year about the record 27 million Latinos eligible to vote and there has some anecdotal evidence that Trump’s offensive comments towards the Latino community has prompted many of them to register to vote. Despite this, some experts say that if Trump can make draw in strong numbers from his base of white, working-class voters then he might not need much of the Latino vote to win the presidency. That’s why Clinton’s Hispanic surrogates keep urgently pleading with their fellow Democrats to go out and vote.
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