LATINO CONFERENCE GOAL TO HELP SHATTER STEREOTYPES

Republican lawmakers were featured speakers

A business-oriented conference held in San Diego this weekend was aimed at celebrating the growing economic, social and political clout of Latinos.

It’s also trying to shatter stereotypes, which helps explain why two of the featured speakers Saturday morning were Republican politicians, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

Most Latinos have historically voted for Democrats in national elections, and they played a key role in several swing states — Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — that helped put Joe Biden in the White House last November.

But as the Latino population expands — it accounted for half of the country’s growth over the past decade — so, too, do the reminders that it’s a mistake to treat the group as monolithic. And a mistake to take its political support for granted.

Cheney and Hogan drew applause several times during their separate virtual appearances at L’attitude, a conference that brought about 3,000 business executives, entrepreneurs and investors to the Grand Hyatt along the downtown waterfront.

In her 30-minute conversation with Sol Trujillo, one of the conference co-founders, Cheney talked about her decision to criticize former President Donald Trump and the mob of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol nine months ago. Her stance got her banished from GOP leadership in Washington and censured by the party in Wyoming.

“What happened on Jan. 6 is a line that never should be crossed,” she said. “It’s one of those moments where we have to stand for the Constitution above all else.”

She also bemoaned the lack of “serious people” on both sides of the political aisle, people who will do their homework on critical issues like immigration reform instead of chasing “likes on Facebook and Twitter.”

Moving forward on the challenges facing the country will also mean fighting misinformation that flourishes on the Internet and elsewhere, she said. “We need to find ways to agree on a common set of facts.”

Hogan, who has been the Republican governor in deep-blue Maryland since 2015, is seen as a possible GOP nominee for president in 2024. He, too, has criticized Trump and the former president’s hold on the party as “toxic.”

During his 30-minute conversation Saturday with Rick Sanchez, a former TV news anchor, Hogan applauded the growing influence of Latinos in the U.S. and said their contributions have often been overlooked or misunderstood.

“Stereotyping has been a problem,” he said.

He pointed out that 67 percent of Latinos in the U.S. were born here, and that polling shows a vast majority care about meatand-potatoes issues like the economy and health care.

“Latinos strongly identify with the American Dream,” he said.

The conference, which started Wednesday and ended Saturday, also featured conversations with the CEOS of several major companies, including Bank of America, Nike, Home Depot, Disney, Cisco, and AT&T.

There were also discussions about Latino homeownership, the future of Latinas in sports, and the low numbers of Latinos on corporate boards and in the media.

Rep. Liz Cheney