OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – With less than a month until Election Day, campaigns are aiming to capture the Latino vote.
On Saturday, Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar was in South Omaha.
The Texas congressman is co-chair of the Harris/Waltz campaign.
She traveled to metropolitan areas to encourage Latino voters ahead of the November election.
“They’re sending agents like me to go into important communities of powerful Latino communities to listen, engage, discuss issues, and inspire them to vote,” said Rep. Escobar. said.
She rallied with fellow Latino politicians like Congressional candidate Tony Vargas to get out the vote. Demographics are well represented in South Omaha.
A 2020 UNO study showed that Latinos make up 44 percent of the region’s residents. For either party, winning over this demographic could be key if they want to win in the highly competitive 2nd District.
Over the past two years, the voice of Latino voters has grown louder. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 36.2 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in 2024.
This is an increase of 4 million people from 2020 and more than double the 14.3 million voters in 2000. According to Pew, Latinos are the second largest voting group in the country, behind blacks and Asian Americans.
Democrats aren’t the only ones trying to capture the Latino vote. Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched the Latino Coalition for Trump this year.
At the local level, Vargas’ opponent, Rep. Don Bacon, is also working hard in the district. Matthew Zucker, his campaign manager, said he has also been making efforts to appeal to his base.
“Obviously radio is essential,” Zucker said. “We’re prioritizing that area in our field program. We have dozens of interns going door to door campaigning for Don, and that’s one of our priority areas. ” he said.
Come November, this “blue dot in a sea of red” may change its position, just as it has for the past few years. He went to Barack Obama in 2008, switched to the Republican Party in 2012 and 2016, but returned to the Democratic Party in 2020.
Only time will tell what color it will be when district residents vote in November.
Early ballots will be mailed to all Nebraskans on Monday.
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