Julián Castro on the Latino Voting Problem

JULIÁN CASTRO: You know in 2012, President Obama got about 71 percent of the Latino vote and Hillary Clinton got something similar. So, you know, it’s about 70-30 in presidential elections the Latino community has been voting Democratic and there’s a good reason for that. Democrats have stood for expanding opportunity for everybody and making the investments that it takes to thrive in the 21st century in public education, in making healthcare more available, and ensuring that we invest in things like infrastructure and so forth. So it’s not surprising that the Latino community that is often still aspiring to achieve their American dream would vote Democratic. Going forward, there needs to be a massive and sustained effort to register and to turn out Latino voters. And that effort doesn’t have to be partisan. It can be nonpartisan. It should be. But until we have that massive and sustained effort, I’m not sure that the rate of participation of voter registration and turnout is going to be what it should be in a very fast growing Latino community.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And, in fact, you do point out that eligible voters versus those who actually vote, there is a disparity. The number of eligible voters has skyrocketed in the Hispanic community but the number of Hispanics who actually vote in midterms hasn’t really kept pace. So you’ve talked about how one needs to counter that by much more reach out much earlier, not just, you know, a few weeks before election. But is it — does it make sense to consider Hispanics in America one great big group because, of course, Conservatives claim them as well? You’ve seen Ted Cruz in Texas speaking just this month, the Hispanic community, our community, is conservative. The Hispanic community, the values that resonate in our community, are faith, family, patriotism. I mean it’s a real sort of Democrat-Republican fight for this group, for this very important demographic group, right?

CASTRO: Well, you know, of course, Senator Cruz and others have made that argument. The way that patterns are voting just don’t bear that out because Hispanics have voted primarily Democratic. And I’m convinced that they’re going to continue to do so. That doesn’t mean the Democrats can take them for granted. They shouldn’t. In fact, they should invest more in outreach, in registration, and making sure that folks turn out. But I don’t worry that somehow a whole bunch of Latinos are suddenly going to be attracted to Republican policies. Donald Trump is probably the best thing that the Democrats have going for them in terms of making sure that Latinos stay, especially young ones, stay in the Democratic camp.