Latino group announces drive to increase turnout

PHOENIX — A national organization is announcing a $10 million campaign to turn out Latino voters in several of this year’s battleground states.

Mi Familia Vota, based in Phoenix, said it will spend $7 million on getoutthevote measures and an additional $3 million on digital and television ads, starting in Arizona and Florida.

Arizona in particular is seen as a battleground because of shifting demographics in the traditionally Republican state. Hispanics are a growing proportion of the electorate.

The campaign comes amid rising concerns about Latino turnout in a year when that community has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. Latinos account for higher rates of infection from COVID19 when compared to their share of the population in a number of states, and many are struggling financially from lost jobs and lower wages.

“Basically, what we’re saying is we’re not going to wait for political parties to do it themselves. They don’t invest in our communities,” said the group’s executive director and CEO, Hector Sanchez Barba.

According to the Pew Research Center, 13.3% of eligible voters in the U.S. this year are Latino, a record high. Pew projects that in Arizona, 24% of eligible voters this year are Latino, up 2 percentage points from 2016. In Florida, Latinos are projected to be 20% of eligible voters.

That doesn’t mean they will all register or cast ballots on Election Day. U.S. Census data shows that 47% of eligible Latino voters in Arizona cast a ballot in 2016, compared with nearly 63% of eligible white voters.

Mi Familia Vota aims to get 3.3 million more Latinos in its targeted states to vote.

Latino turnout in states such as Arizona could help decide the presidential election, said Matt Barreto, cofounder and managing partner of Latino Decisions, a polling and research firm based in Los Angeles.

“We already saw this in 2018, where record Latino vote in a midterm provided the margin of victory for (Democratic U.S. Sen. Kyrsten) Sinema,“he said.

Sanchez Barba says Mi Familia Vota will use text messages, phone calls, and digital and TV ads to reach potential voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

The campaign comes as both Democrats and Republicans vie for the Latino vote. The Trump campaign, for example, also is targeting Latino voters through messaging about the economy, public safety and family values.