O’Rourke taps Latino superstars for rally
Norteño band joins Dem at event days before early voting
EDINBURG — Luis Gonzalez initially regarded U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke as a typical politician, the kind who looks to secure votes by speaking a few sentences in Spanish and saying he cares about Latino issues.
But then O’Rourke threw a rally Thursday in Hidalgo County with a free performance by Los Tigres del Norte, the powerhouse Mexican norteño band that is Gonzalez’s favorite group, and the 41-year-old from Pharr was sold.
“That’s when I knew he was legit,” Gonzalez said. “I have never heard of any senator doing this, to do something like this for the people.”
The rally, which also included Tejano stars Little Joe y La Familia and more, packed a crowd of several thousand into the Bert Ogden Arena in this Rio Grande Valley town. It was aimed at sparking enthusiasm and turning out Latino voters for O’Rourke in a part of the state where O’Rourke underperformed during the primary election. The campaign and volunteers have spent weeks hosting smaller rallies with local bands, local politicians and even U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts .
O’Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, brought the A-team with Los Tigres del Norte — widely popular among Mexican immigrants, their music evokes nostalgia among young Latino voters who grew up hearing it in Mom and Dad’s car. Between songs, Los Tigres urged attendees to load their siblings, cousins and friends into cars and vote on Monday, the first day of early voting.
Turnout issues
That’s the sort of movement O’Rourke will need if he is to have any hope of upsetting GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in November. While 69 percent of voters in Hidalgo County — the most populous county in the Rio Grande Valley — cast ballots for Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Democrats have long struggled to get voters in the region to the polls for midterm elections.
In the March primary, O’Rourke lost half of the four major counties in the Valley and had a bad showing generally in counties south of Bexar. Voters around here opted for Sema Hernandez, a Houston activist. While an unknown name in statewide politics, she still picked up 24 percent of the Democratic vote and crushed O’Rourke in South Texas counties.
Counties in the Valley also have lower turnout compared to others in the state. In the 2014 midterm, fewer than 25 percent of Hidalgo County’s 319,000 voters cast a ballot, compared to the state average turnout of 33 percent.
Jolt, a Texas Latino voter outreach organization, recently conducted a survey that showed more than half of the state’s young Latino voters are disillusioned about voting, don’t trust politicians, don’t think voting makes a difference and don’t think “people like me have a say.”
Cristina Tzintzun, the founder and director of Jolt, said Thursday’s rally will help get people excited for Election Day, but it’s not enough.
“One rally is not a solution to reach Latino voters,” she said. “You need events like these paired with the on-the-ground, hard work of knocking on doors, going out to churches and communities to make sure they are going to vote.”
Palpable election buzz
Los Tigres’ songs often lament lost love, but the band is no stranger to politics. Many of their records feature the immigrant experience in the United States or life in Northern Mexico. “La Jaula de Oro,” or the Gilded Cage, centers on an immigrant grieving that his American-born children have no connection to their homeland. Los Tigres played the song Thursday, evoking roaring cheers.
Most attendees were already staunch O’Rourke supporters who were at the rally to hear from their candidate and their beloved banda. Beto shirts, stickers and signs were everywhere. Diana De Los Santos Marroquin, a 65-year-old former teacher, arrived at the arena four hours early in hopes of securing a seat in the front row and a chance to dance with O’Rourke.
Others, like Gonzalez and his family, were there mainly for Los Tigres but appreciated the opportunity to hear more about O’Rourke’s priorities. O’Rourke spoke for about 10 minutes before Los Tigres took the stage. He promised to improve Latino lives by working to secure citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and pushing for universal health care so people aren’t spending the bulk of their paychecks on medical bills.
‘I see fear’
Enthusiasm for the November election is palpable across the county. Large signs for local and statewide candidates dot most major intersections in Edinburg, the county seat. Selene Rodriguez, who was at the rally, said she hasn’t seen this kind of buzz around an election before.
Caly Rodriguez agrees, which is why she’s even more motivated to vote for her candidate: Ted Cruz. Rodriguez, 57, of McAllen, said Cruz’s policies align with her ideals and values. She disagrees with what she calls O’Rourke’s “open border” policies and believes Cruz has a better plan to ensure immigrants do not come into the country illegally.
“Those people are going to suffer the transition, the culture shock, the fact that they are missing their country. If we really want to help these immigrants, we need to go help them in their country, not here in ours,” she said in a phone interview. “To me, Beto says, ‘So what? Let them come in, we’ll take care of them.’ ”
Rodriguez said she and her friends are motivated to vote in November to “represent what we believe in.” But this election, she said, isn’t necessarily fueled by enthusiasm.
“I see fear. That’s what motivates a lot of people now on both sides,” she said. “The Democrats are afraid of the Republicans. The Republicans are afraid of the Democrats.”
But O’Rourke and Los Tigres del Norte stuck with a can-do message on Thursday. As Gonzalez, the mega-Tigres fan, put it: It was a party — one that O’Rourke hopes will continue after the election.
“Every single one of us wants to have the best hangover we’ve ever had from celebrating the biggest victory that this state, this country, this generation and future generations have ever seen,” O’Rourke told the crowd.