Hillary Clinton didn't win the presidency, but she owes a lot to the Hispanic community because she got 200,000+ more votes in Florida than Obama did. The problem was that Trump got 400,000+ more votes than Romney. The Democrats need to continue to groom their Hispanic members for future power in the party. To see a brief take on Hispanic politicians, a piece in Latino Leaders gives 15 rising politicians.* For a long list of Hispanic Democrats in politics, see Wikipedia.**
Head of the list I suppose is Thomas Pérez, the current Secretary of Labor who has also served in the Justice Department. At age 55, he won't be too old to consider for a presidential run, young by today's standards where Donald Trump is 70 and Hillary Clinton is 69 (Sanders was 74!. Remember the 1960s when young people said you can't trust anyone over 30? Now young people go for Bernie Sanders who is well into his 70s!).
Younger candidates are the Castro twins, Julian, current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Joaquin, member of the House of Representatives. They recently turned 42. Perhaps the House is a good place for Joaquin to grow,*** but Julian might benefit from a position giving more visibility as he will soon be out of his job as Secretary of HUD. I do't know what that might be.
It seems like most Hispanic women political candidates are Republicans, but two outstanding Democrats are Rep.Michelle Lujan Grisham, 57, from New Mexico and Leticia Van de Putte, 61, are good ones. Perhaps the House of Representatives is an appropriate place for Lujan to mature as a national candidate.*** Leticia has served in both the Texas House and Senate and is a pharmacist. Alas, she lost her bid to be mayor of San Antonio. She will be 65 by the time of the next presidential election, not old by present standards, She has been a strong advocate of veterans.
* http://www.latinoleaders.com/Media-Kit/15-Rising-Hispanic-Politicians/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latino_Democrats
*** This may not be an appropriate place if the Republicans continue to dominate the House.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment