The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) regretted this Thursday the absence of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump at its annual meeting in the city of Las Vegas, in the state of Nevada, despite the importance of the Latino vote in the presidential elections on November 5.
Arturo Vargas, director of NALEO, was disappointed and said it was an insult that both candidates ignored the invitation to the 41st edition of their annual meeting. “With less than six months until the presidential election, where Latinos are poised to play a decisive role in races across the country, We are disappointed that both presidential candidates have decided to pass up the opportunity to speak at the largest gathering of Latinoselected and appointed officials in the nation,” Vargas said in a statement.
“They are making a mistake”
The organization, one of the most important in the United States that promotes the vote of this community, projects that a record of 17.5 million Latinos will go to the polls next November. “Both candidates they are making a mistake not forced by wasting a unique opportunity to reach and interact with two of the fastest growing communities in the United States,” Vargas said.
The NALEO leader thus referred to both the Latino and Asian communities, because the planned Presidential Candidate Forum was scheduled to be a joint session with the Elected Asian American Pacific Islander Leaders and Designated (AAPI LEAD). “His absence is an insult to the contributions and sacrifices that Latino elected and appointed officials make for this country and its constituents day after day”Vargas added.
NALEO called on voters, parties and candidates to galvanize this community to realize their power. The annual meeting, which took place starting Tuesday and ended this Thursday, brought together more than a thousand Latino elected officials and national leaders from across the country.
Vargas pointed out that since 1992 presidents, vice presidents and candidates of both parties accepted the invitation to speak before Latino leaders. Biden had already attended a conference, while Trump was invited since 2016 but has never appeared. The NALEO annual meeting, which has become an important political forum, was also attended on other occasions by personalities such as former President Barack Obama (2009-2017), former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, among others.
Campaign for the Latino vote
Although Biden has not attended the assembly, he does not lose sight of his attempts to capture the Latino vote. Without going any further, on Tuesday he announced the creation of a new plan to regularize more than half a million undocumented migrants. “I am not interested in making immigration and the border a political game”said the Democratic president at an event at the White House attended by legislators, officials and activists who defend the rights of migrants.
Nearly 500,000 spouses and 50,000 children of US citizens, the vast majority Mexican or Mexican-American, could benefit from the new measure, according to estimates by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) of Mexico. This new immigration relief is one of the most important since the Obama administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, which delays the deportation of people who came to United States when they were children and do not have documentation or official legal status.
Additionally, Biden’s re-election campaign announced that will show electoral ads on television, radio and social networks during the Copa América soccer matches to win the Latino vote. “Over the next few weeks, we will harness the energy of the Cup to mobilize and reach Latino voters,” Julie Chávez, director of Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign, said in a statement.
The Democratic campaign will broadcast a video in Spanish during the games that claims that Biden created more than 15 million jobs and says that his rival, former Republican President Donald Trump, failed the people. Democrats will also organize parties to watch the games in key states for the upcoming elections such as Nevada and Arizona, which have a large Latino population. They will also distribute t-shirts and banners with the Biden-Harris 2024/Copa América brand.
Democrats predict that the soccer tournament will have an audience of about 100 million people and will be the most watched Spanish-language television program of the year in the United States. It is estimated that there are about 60 million followers of the Mexican team in the country. In addition, soccer is becoming increasingly popular due to the increase in the Latin population and the signing last year of Lionel Messi for Inter Miami.
It is not the only campaign spot that Biden launched focused on the Latino vote. In March she released another, in which she sought to differentiate herself from Trump. “For our grandparents: insulin that costs 35 or hundreds of dollars. That is the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. There is only one option. Your vote makes the difference,” say two voiceovers, interspersing words in English and Spanish throughout the 15 seconds of video.
