Biden gov’t seeks Latinos’ backing for Democratic midterm candidates
Washington, Sep 13 (EFE).- With 56 days to go before the midterm elections, in which Democrats are hoping to retain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday sought support from the key Latino community, hoping to encourage its members to join the Democrats’ fight for expanding rights.
The recent overturning of the right to abortion on the federal level, which had been the law of the land from 1973 until the heavily conservative Supreme Court nullified Roe v. Wade in June, is – according to Vice President Kamala Harris – a clear example of how people must not let down their guard if they want to preserve their rights.
Harris said that nations all over the world are looking at the US and asking, in effect, “What’s going on?” and “Are Americans really defending their democracy?” adding that authoritarian countries are saying that if the US – a “great democracy” – can take away people’s rights, why can’t they do it as well?
The first US female vice president delivered her remarks at the opening of the annual conference of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI).
At the official gathering which through Wednesday will bring together Latino Democratic lawmakers and outstanding members of that community from around the US, Harris said clearly that there is a lot at stake in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, which will decide whether the Democrats or the Republicans will control Congress.
Harris said that Americans must defend their democracy and the nation’s founding principles, emphasizing her own life experiences and career as the daughter of a women who had arrived in the US from India at age 19, thus pointing up the possibilities provided in the US for minorities and immigrants.
She said she had always received her mother’s advice assuring her that she might be the first to make any of her achievements but she should “make sure you’re not the last,” and in her speech Harris appealed to the audience to open up the way for new generations.
Harris said “the responsibility that we each carry” is for us to ensure that the benefits enjoyed by one community help not only that group but all Americans since they enable others to see and strive for what is possible.
Thus, with an eye toward the key vote on Nov. 8, the VP emphasized that “much remains to be done,” despite the fact that in the first two years of Biden’s tenure in office his administration, among other things, reduced child poverty by some 40 percent in just its first two months.
Her call to action was not made to just any ethnic community: a study by the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at UCLA in July found that the Latino electorate played a decisive role in the contest for the US Senate in 2020 and will once again play a key role in the November vote.
The CHCI conference is being held on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the annual gala dinner will take place on Thursday with Biden in attendance and will feature a performance by the Gente de Zona singing group to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and hails the contributions of the Latino community in the US.
EFE mgr/ssa/rrt/bp
