I don’t think anyone has been more complacent than Newsom and the California Democrat Party, who ignored the fact that school closures disproportionally harmed Black and Latino families. It is the same with vaccine mandates, where the number of unvaccinated people of color is still higher than other racial groups.
The heavily-Catholic Hispanic and Latino voting bloc is not comfortable with employment being lost through AB5 and illegal immigration; they also are not happy about COVID pouring across the Southern border. They also would like to see lower gas prices, lower taxes, and to not be in fear that their children will be murdered or snatched by a human trafficker. Just as in the Black community, Hispanics and Latinos know that Defund the Police means their neighborhood and property will be in jeopardy. They’re not down for that.
Marc Ang wrote over at the Flopping Aces blog that this disconnect became evident in the battle to defeat Prop. 16, the 2020 ballot measure which wanted to bring back affirmative action and race-based preferences into hiring and education, in order to marginalize and target Asian achievement.
One of the key takeaways, when we defeated the racist and divisive Proposition 16 (affirmative action), was our strong support against race-based preferences from Latina females, who worked hard (most times, juggling careers and parental duties), and were concerned about fairness and meritocracy. Especially those with skilled jobs, such as x-ray technicians or lab assistants in professional settings. The last thing they wanted was to be leapfrogged in the hiring and advancement processes by others who are less qualified. But what was noteworthy was that they ignored the ads from the opposition which focused on promoting figures like Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris and painting the “No on 16” side as racist Trumpers. This hyperbolic ad backfired and ignored the issues and concerns of everyday people.
It always amazes me that Newsom and the California Democrats see these issues and concerns as “Republican” or “right-wing values”, when they are just values of every day humans who want to live, work, provide for their families, and not always be looking over their shoulder worrying that their job is in jeopardy because a dumbass legislator beholden to their special interest wants their independent enterprise destroyed. Hispanics and Latinos care deeply about these things, and the elected officials that claim to represent them are basically telling them to piss off.
It’s no wonder it has cost the California Democrats support in this community, and along with that, their votes.
This commenter, who doesn’t support the Recall, calls out Newsom, Padilla, and the DNC for their complacency and short-sightedness.
Where the California Dems are fumbling the ball, the CA GOP is moving to intercept:
With less than a week until recall ballots hit mailboxes, the California Republican Party is targeting Hispanic voters in an effort to get more people to vote Governor Gavin Newsom out of office.
Dozens of California GOP volunteers gathered for a virtual workshop Thursday. The focus: build relationships and gain support for Governor Newsom’s recall among Latino voters.
“What this governor can’t buy is the people of California and the movement that’s created by his failed leadership,” said California GOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson.
The group plans to spend the next few weeks engaging with Latinos through religious and community groups — going door-to-door and propping up phone banks. They’re working to reach business owners affected by shutdowns and lower-income Latinos hit by the state’s taxes and housing issues.
I have heard of no such plans to try to win over Black voters in this Recall, but that’s a post for another day.
Suffice to say, where one party has pretty much vacated the opportunity, the opposition party is looking to pick up the slack. If the end-result is that it changes the trajectory of the Recall toward “YES”, I’m all for it.
