No one doubts the growth of the Latino electorate in Texas. But its turnout at the polls is lower than in the rest of the country, leading some to question how to change that. Especially Democrats who say this is how to turn Texas blue.
State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer, D-San Antonio, and State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, joined Julie Martinez Ortega of PAC Plus to discuss the challenge at a news conference today.
“If every registered Latino in Texas had voted in 2012, they would have generated over half a million more votes for Obama,” Ortega said. “That’s without adding a single new registered voter.”
PAC Plus, a liberal political organization focused on electing Democrats across the U.S., surveyed almost 3,000 Latino voters in Bexar, Dallas, Tarrant, El Paso and Harris Counties this month, to start the process of engaging this group in voting.
Rep. Martinez-Fischer says Republicans are winning statewide by 1,000,000 votes in general elections. The panel also agreed it will take several years before Democrats gain speed.
