By Hector Sanchez Barba. CEO and Executive Director at Mi Familia Vota
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we honor Latino's contributions to our country's history, culture, economy, and politics. We have been the leaders in small business creation around the country. Moreover, our buying power recently surpassed the two trillion dollar mark, making up ten percent of the country's buying power.
In 2020, it was communities of color, Latinos included, who saved our democracy from Donald Trump and those who believed his lies of fraud and stolen elections. It was Latinos who overwhelmingly supported then-Vice President Biden in crucial battleground states.
This cycle, according to NALEO, at least 11.6 million Latinos will cast ballots in 2022, a 71.4 percent increase in the number of Latino voters from 2014. This election cycle, Latinos are projected to be nearly one in 10 voters (9.8 percent), a 34.1 percent increase from 2014. Latino voter turnout in 2022 should be consistent with trends from the last two decades, which have seen continued, long-term growth in Latino voting rates over time.
Mi Familia Vota, the organization I lead with the largest field operation in the Latino community, will continue to build Latino political power and fight to protect our democracy from the attacks of anti-Latino MAGA Republicans. We will fight to hold ALL politicians accountable to our community regarding our policy priorities, immigration, health care, workers' rights, voting rights, the environment, reproductive rights, and education.
We have been watching politicians who have attacked our community; we know precisely who the MAGA Amigos are. We are starting this focus with the Chief among those is Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Since Abbott became governor in 2015, Texas has experienced six mass shootings where nearly 100 Texans have died and over 100 more were injured. The El Paso shooting, for example, was a hate crime primarily fueled by the hateful rhetoric of the former president toward Latinos. Hispanic "invasion" claims motivated the shooter to carry out that crime.
Where was Abbott when the former president said those hateful things?
Avoidable tragedy struck again, this time in Uvalde. Nineteen Texans died during that shooting, and all Abbott could say was that the "Police did a great job." All the while, Abbott and his allies in the legislature have slowly made it easier for those who wanted a gun to acquire one and allowed them to freely and openly carry. Many of those guns made their way into the hands of those who committed these heinous crimes.
Furthermore, since 2020, nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in Texas have been Latinos, all of whom died under Governor Abbott's watch. In 2021, during the Texas Freeze, 246 people died in yet another failure that occurred under Greg Abbott's watch. In short, Abbott nos abandonó y nos va seguir abandonando.
Finally, Abbott worked with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to displace and mislead newly arrived immigrants, sending them thousands of miles away from loved ones and resources after they've bravely endured a harrowing journey.
In short, Texas and our country deserve better than Governor Abbott. His failures as an executive over the last few years should be sufficient cause for most voters to question his abilities to govern.
As we close out Hispanic Heritage Month and continue to examine and celebrate what makes Latinos unique, let us not just focus on the past but look to the future and know that people like Greg Abbott would hurt our community.
That is why Mi Familia Vota will continue to fight to build Latino political power, protect our democracy, fight and say ya basta to MAGA amigos. Stay tuned for much more in all the states where Mi Familia Vota has programs and operations: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, NV, PA, and TX.
Join the fight to hold Abbott accountable to the Latino community here