Will California Latinos even bother to vote in November?

If Jerry Brown is counting on Antonio Villaraigosa to deliver the Latino vote, he is quite mistaken!

I am beginning to wonder if California’s Latino voters are going to bother to vote in November.  The Democrats have zero Latino candidates running for statewide office. 

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Jerry Brown, appears to be doing nothing to reach out to Latinos, while his opponent, the hated Meg Whitman, is spending heavily on Spanish language ads.

This is not a presidential election.  It is a mid-term election, offering even more reason for Latinos to stay home.  They don’t have much at stake.

Imagine what effect this could have, particularly here in Orange County.

If Latinos don’t vote, State Senator Lou Correa may well lose to his GOP challenger, Anaheim Councilwoman Lucille Kring.  And Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez could lose to her GOP challenger, Assemblyman Van Tran.

And Santa Ana mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua will likewise lose as he is betting everything on the Latino vote.

How did the Democratic Party of California end up with zero Latino statewide candidates?  They had a lot of candidates in the primary, but none was able to beat out their competition, and in some races multiple Latino candidates split the vote. 

At the very least, Brown needs to get cracking with his own Spanish language outreach.  His website doesn’t even offer a Spanish language version.  That is without excuse.

Democrats have always taken Latinos for granted.  This time they may pay for it.


About Zorro

Yes, Zorro is gay. Zorro is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in Santa Ana, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and, of course, a good government advocate in Anaheim. Zorro is all the exploited, marginalized, oppressed minorities resisting and saying `Enough'. He or she is every minority who is now beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He or she is every untolerated group searching for a way to speak. Everything that makes power and the good consciences of those in power uncomfortable -- this is Zorro.