Hispanic Male Democrats Make an Abortion-Rights Pitch to Latino Men

[Pelican Press 0]

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Hispanic Male Democrats Make an *********-Rights Pitch to Latino Men

When he was a child, Representative Gabriel Vasquez never heard his parents discuss politics, much less *********, a topic that was off limits in many ******** ********* households like his. So he can see why some might think he is taking a risk by focusing on ********* rights in campaigning to Latino men.

For decades, Democrats saw the issue as a losing one with Latinos, who tended to be more religious and to say ********* should be ******** in all or most cases. Some strategists still consider it a risky subject among Hispanic men, who have typically expressed more concern about the economy.

But Mr. Vasquez, who represents a border district in New Mexico, and several other Hispanic male Democratic candidates said there was no avoiding the ********* debate this year. They point to polling and Democratic electoral victories in the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned that capture how Latinos’ views on the issue have reversed.

The right to ********* has taken on new urgency especially for Latinas, who have been stirred by accounts of pregnant women facing life-threatening situations and having to travel thousands of miles for reproductive care.

Mr. Vasquez said ********* rights could resonate with Latino men as much as it has with women, because at its core is personal freedom, a value that attracts many immigrants to the ******* States.

“It is not about whether we are pro-choice or pro-life. It is about trusting the people that we love to make those decisions for themselves,” he said in an interview. His parents disagree on *********, he added, but they “are both pro-personal decision.”

Mr. Vasquez’s distinctive position as a messenger was on display last month when he was the only man who spoke at an event with a group of female Democratic lawmakers and activists in his district to mark the second anniversary of the end of Roe.

The district, which stretches along the entire southern border of New Mexico, has become a safe haven for women seeking abortions in a region where clinics have become scarce. Oklahoma and Texas, which border New Mexico, have effectively banned the procedure. In 2023, more than 70 percent of ********* patients in New Mexico lived outside the state, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports ********* rights.

Mr. Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, first emphasized his support for ********* rights during his congressional campaign in 2022, when he beat Representative Yvette Herrell by less than one percentage point. For their rematch this year, Mr. Vasquez is amplifying his message and looking to portray her anti-********* position as extreme.

His

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this year shows footage of Ms. Herrell saying that she wished “we could have gotten rid of all abortions.” Before Roe was overturned, Ms. Herrell was among 166 House Republicans who signed on to legislation in 2021 that amounted to a nationwide ********* ban, with no exceptions for *****, ******* or the health of the mother.

In an

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in May, Ms. Herrell sought to soften her stance, writing that she supports such exceptions and criticizing Mr. Vasquez as “********,” contending that he supports “********* up to the moment of birth.” Mr. Vasquez has called that claim “absurd.”

In a statement, Ms. Herrell said, “I am proudly pro-life, but this is now a state issue, which is why I would not vote for a national ban.”

Similar fights are playing out in congressional races in Arizona, California and Nebraska, where Hispanic male Democrats have sought to frame ********* rights as a matter of personal freedom and liberty. Their *********** opponents have echoed the arguments on ********* that their party has pushed nationwide, trying to draw contrasts between what they say are their own measured views on restrictions, even as ***********-led states increasingly propose more sweeping bans. Many Republicans also say that concerns over the economy, along with ****** and immigration, are likely to prove more important.

In Nebraska, Tony Vargas, a former Democratic state senator, is campaigning against Representative Don Bacon, a *********** who supported legislation banning ********* in 2021, by saying that he wants to take away “health care freedom.” Mr. Bacon argued in a statement that Mr. Vasquez had “consistently misrepresented” his position, and noted that he had not backed a similar measure this year because it had not included an exception for if a mother’s life was endangered.

Like Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Vargas, the son of Peruvian immigrants, recalled that his ********* household avoided discussing politics and *********. But as Republicans moved to curb the right in Nebraska, more physicians and women in his district urged him to protect it. They included his mother and, to his surprise, he said, his father, whom he described as a gruff, no-nonsense machinist.

“He said, ‘Look, I’m going to defer to your mother on this,’” said Mr. Vargas, who is vying to become the first Latino to represent his state. “It was that easy for him.”

Democrats have seized on ********* to help energize voters since Roe was overturned, fueling victories in Ohio, Kansas and Virginia, among other states. As polling has found that Latinos have helped power some of those wins, more Democratic candidates and groups have sought to tailor their pitches specifically to Hispanic men, seeing them as an untapped bloc.

Nuestro PAC, which focuses on mobilizing Latino Democrats in key states, is raising funds for a $7 million TV campaign during the soccer tournament Copa América, with ads produced by and for Latino men on issues including ********* rights. But even Chuck Rocha, a founder of the group, warns candidates against leaning too far into ********* rights at the expense of other issues, particularly the economy, which polls show continues to be the priority for Latinos.

“Latino men do care about choice,” Mr. Rocha said. “They do care about *********, but they also care about economic stability.”

In the Central Valley of California, Rudy Salas, a former Democratic state lawmaker, is challenging Representative David Valadao, a ***********, on his *********-rights record for the second time. Mr. Salas, who lost in 2022 by less than three percentage points, had initially focused that campaign on Mr. Valadao’s support of the 2021 House ********* ban bill. But as the race drew closer, Mr. Salas shifted his emphasis to kitchen-table issues. Mr. Valadao’s allies took that as a sign that the ********* messages were less effective in the socially *************, majority-Latino district, and Republicans expect other issues to matter more again this year.

“Central Valley voters will decide this race based on the skyrocketing cost of living self-serving Sacramento politician Rudy Salas inflicted on them,” said Ben Petersen, a spokesman for the National *********** Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans.

Mr. Salas has continued to criticize Mr. Valadao’s ********* stance in ads, and in a statement he denounced his support for “extreme legislation.” Mr. Valadao’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

In New Mexico, Mr. Vasquez’s district, where Latino voters make up 56 percent of the voting population, could offer the clearest test of the resonance of ********* rights with Hispanic men. Conversations with some two dozen Hispanic male voters there captured both the advantages and challenges for Democrats.

Sitting on a bench in Old Mesilla, near Las Cruces, Carlos Muñoz, 64, a retired auto mechanic visiting from Boise, Idaho, said there should be more Hispanic male Democrats like Mr. Vasquez daring to run on ********* rights, even if an older generation of Hispanics preferred not to talk about the issue.

“Women are entitled to their own body, and they are the ones who should make the choice, not the government,” said Mr. Muñoz, a Democrat.

In Las Cruces, Sergio Soto, 58, a *********** who teaches animal science at New Mexico State University, called the ********* debate “noise that politicians have exploited.” He preferred to focus on how much money he was able to keep in his pocket, he said, and with that in mind, he voted for Ms. Herrell in 2022 but was still undecided about whether he would do so again.

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#Hispanic #Male #Democrats #AbortionRights #Pitch #Latino #Men

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