More Latinos than ever toss hats into ring in Harris County races
Representation of Hispanics lacking, but newcomers use ‘Trump factors’ to compete
A record number of Latino candidates are on the local ballot for Tuesday’s primary election, a dramatic shift in a county where 40 percent of the population is Hispanic but none has been elected to the highest leadership positions.
Today, there are no Hispanics on the commissioners court and no Latino congressional members, though a district on Houston’s east side was specifically drawn in 1992 to elect a Hispanic. And no Latinos have been elected county judge or Houston mayor.
But times appear to be changing.
A flock of newcomers — many under the age of 40 — has joined a group of political veterans on the ballot, driving up the number of Hispanic candidates in the Democratic and Republican primaries by more than 40 percent, from 31 to at least 53 candidates compared to the last midterm election in 2014.
The numbers even beat the 48 Hispanics on the ballot in Harris County in 2016, a presidential election year that typically draws more candidates, according to a Chronicle review of candidates since 2010 with Hispanic surnames.
They say they are energized by the President Donald J. Trump’s divisive rhetoric from the 2016 presidential election
his subsequent focus on the border wall, restrictive immigration reform and the deportation of undocumented immigrants, all of which hit close to home in Houston’s Latino neighborhoods. Trump’s election also sent a message to aspiring candidates that even a political neophyte can win.
“There is tremendous energy going on this year,” said Lina Hidalgo, a 27-year-old Stanford University graduate running as the lone Democrat looking to challenge incumbent Republican County Judge Ed Emmett.
“The election of Donald Trump, his rhetoric, his attacks on immigrants elevated a toxic and divisive national discourse and took the focus away from really crucial issues affecting our communities.”
Latino Republican candidates are embracing the other “Trump factor,” that Trump is viewed as a model for disrupting the status quo.
“This is an important year particularly in the Republican Party, because of the fact that Trump won — somebody that is not a politician has let people know that somebody who is an outsider can get into office,” said Carmen Maria Montiel, a Republican in the U.S. Congressional District 29 race. A ready ‘political climate’
Renee Cross, a professor at the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, said the increasing political divisiveness has brought immigration and other issues to the forefront, stirring participation by Latinos and Asians, as well.
“Today’s political climate is a huge factor,” Cross said.
In the 2016 presidential race, “the rhetoric has not been very positive about immigrants and people of color in general,” she said.
Montiel, a freelance journalist who worked for the Telemundo TV network in Houston after winning the Miss Venezuela title in 1984, sees opportunity in the Trump model.
“People are tired of career politicians, and that is why many of us that are running this year are not career politicians,” she said.
Pasadena businesswoman Jaimy Z. Blanco, also running in the GOP primary for District 29 seat, said Trump’s anti-establishment actions are encouraging to Latinos.
“The Trump campaign inspired the Hispanic community to rise up if they want to see change and stop allowing the government to control us,” said Blanco, who recently went to a Pasadena gun show to stress her support for gun owner’s rights.
District 29 is an open seat following the announcement by incumbent Rep. Gene Green, DHouston, that he would not seek re-election. It was designed to be a Hispanic-friendly seat but has been held by Green since he first won election in 1992. Seeking representation
Latinos are stumping for positions at all levels of government.
Experts say a generational component is propelling the Latino demand for representation, and they are developing political maturity as a result of continued population growth.
“As we have more Latinos who grew up here, who are second and third generation immigrants, you start seeing more of them running and not just voting,” Cross said. She added that it is a familiar pattern, noting the assimilation of past waves of European immigrants.
Not surprisingly, the race to replace retiring Green in the eastside’s District 29 has attracted Hispanic candidates from both parties.
For years, there were few challengers to Green, a popular congressman perceived as a mentor to Latino politicians in the area. A group of community leaders, however, has believed for years that the district has stagnated and was struggling to deal with poverty and environmental contamination. State Sen. Sylvia Garcia, DHouston, considered a front runner in the crowded primary contest, said that “people are getting excited about the historic nature of the race.”
A former county commissioner, Garcia is among several Hispanics in the Democratic primary. The winner could be the first Hispanic elected to represent Houston in Congress.
An earlier effort to unseat Green by Democrat Adrian Garcia, the former Harris County sheriff, was unsuccessful in 2016. Garcia, who received record numbers of votes in his first campaign for sheriff, has returned to the political arena as a candidate for Harris County Commissioner Precinct 2.
Besides Sylvia Garcia, the District 29 race includes five other Latino candidates in the Democratic party and two in the Republican primary.
One of them, Democrat Hector Adrian Morales, a 30-yearold teacher, said he has always “stayed on the sidelines, helping candidates to get elected” and never considered making a run for office. He explained it was in part because politicians from both parties have viewed Latinos as simply numbers to vote for them, not as worthy candidates to support.
Morales said that premise is changing. “For the first time in many years, we are going to have these millennials, my generation … to actually get up and run for offices,” he said.
“Many of these young candidates don’t come from the traditional camarilla,” said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University and a fellow at the Kinder Institute.
He used the Spanish word for the “political machinery” assembled by previous Latino politicians, “who won elections in part due to who they were aligned with, whereas many of these (Hispanic) newcomers are trying to build their own networks and their own organizations.”
Some of the Hispanic newcomers have set their sights high and are vying for office at the national and state levels.
Sema Hernandez, a 32-yearold small business owner whose parents were migrant workers from Mexico, is the first Latina to run for the U.S. Senate. She is one of the Democratic challengers for the seat now occupied by Republican Ted Cruz.
Another political newcomer is Ivan Sanchez, 30, a Colombian immigrant who earned a politiand cal science degree from the University of Houston-Downtown. Sanchez is running as a Democrat candidate for U.S. Congressional District 7, and views the events of this year as a reflection of “a new movement.”
“We see activism from the youth that we have never seen before,” he said.
Jones said that many of the young candidates are not going to win in this election.
“Some are likely aiming too high, but they are gaining valuable campaign experience and valuable exposure to primary voters and the electorate at large,” the professor said. Looking ahead
Despite the energy among Latino candidates, Jones warned against unrealistic expectations.
“We are seeing an increase in Latino candidates, but it’s still much lower than their voting share in Harris County,” Jones said.
Hispanics comprise about one out of every four eligible voters in Harris County, meaning they are U.S. citizens at least 18 years old. But only 13 percent of the county’s total candidates.
“They still are participating as candidates at a much lower rate than they are participating as registered voters, let alone their share of the actual population of Harris County of about 40 percent,” Jones said.
Jones said the lower participation by Hispanics could be a result of their relatively younger age compared to the average Anglo and African-American voters, as well as a lack of effort to recruit them as candidates.
However, Jones stressed that “there is definitely a jump in 2018 compared to 2014, so things are improving, especially on the Democratic side.”
Comparing the primaries of both midterm elections, Republicans candidates with Hispanic surnames in the Harris County ballots grew slightly from 12 to 16 candidates, while Democrats leaped from 19 to 37 runners.
“Latinos are such a huge (population) in Texas that we are going to see more of them running in the future in staggering ways, ” predicts Cross, the UH political expert.