John Verdejo moved to North Carolina by way of the Bronx, with only basketball g...
RALEIGH, N.C./FRESNO, Calif. - - John Verdejo moved to North Carolina by way of the Bronx, with only basketball great Michael Jordan and the folksy humor of the Andy Griffith television show as references, neither particularly relevant to a Puerto Rican family in the mid-1990s.
“I have never received more phone calls, requests for meetings - party meetings, candidate meetings,” from those courting Latinos, said Verdejo, a member of the state’s Democratic National Committee. More notable, perhaps, in a U.S. presidential system where state by state results determine the winner, Latino populations, which lean Democratic by about a two-to-one margin, could start making states like Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina more competitive. U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, won each of those in 2016.It’s something Democratic candidates and activists have expected before, only to be disappointed by low registration and turnout.
A Pew poll of registered Latino voters nationally showed the top priorities included a stronger government role in health care and a higher minimum wage, dovetailing with some of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ policy themes. “We do have a big say in this election,” said Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, a 29-year-old grad student at UC Davis who has already voted for Sanders, in part because of his vow to cancel student debt and his positions on immigration.
For Latino voters, said city council president Miguel Angel Arias, “the economy is as strong a driver as immigration is.” Half of Fresno’s residents don’t own their own homes; more than half are on Medicaid. “The booming national economy hasn’t benefited a lot of Central Valley families, especially Latinos.
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