Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said Hispanic lawmakers are struggling to reach voters in their own communities unless it’s right before an election, calling it “one of the biggest problems that we have.”
Barragán, the first vice chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said candidates are failing to reach what is one of the most important voting blocs for Democrats, especially as the forecast for the midterms show they are likely to lose seats in November.
“We need to have voter contact, and that’s not happening. That’s not happening year round, and I think this is one of the biggest problems that we have. We basically wait for an election and then we say two months before the election we’re going to start reaching out to these voters,” Barragán said at The Hill’s Latina Leaders Summit.
“We have to engage Latinos and Latinas throughout the year, year round, and making sure that we’re engaging with them, having contact with them, that we’re talking in their language,” she added.
Democrats appear to be increasingly struggling with keeping a large bloc of Hispanic voters in their favor. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that just 26 percent of Hispanic voters surveyed approved of President Biden’s job performance, the lowest mark of any demographic group.
Democrats are also having a larger messaging problem, as the party is struggling to convince voters of a clear message as seen by Biden’s low approval ratings in the face of inflation and record high gas prices.
One of the reasons that Hispanics are not approached as readily during election cycles as other groups has to do with many being first time voters, according to María Teresa Kumar, who serves on the board of...