November 30, 2018 (New York, NY) — José Calderón , president of Hispanic Federation, the nation’s premier Latino nonprofit membership organization, released today the following statement celebrating the impact of the Latino vote across the country:
“This election cycle, we continued our work to mobilize voters in areas across the country that are predominantly Latino. By leveraging door-to-door canvassing, pledge cards, nonpartisan education briefings, canvasser trainings, and peer-to-peer text tools, we were able to mobilize nearly 1.1 million Latinos for contentious gubernatorial, House and Senate races in states including Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and register more than 50,000 new voters.
In Florida alone, the Hispanic Federation's historic voter registration and GOTV efforts included registering 27,245 new Latino voters in Central Florida; mobilizing more than 300,000 Latinos through GOTV efforts (door knocking and texting operations); energizing and educating more than 50,000 voters through voter education events, "caravanas" and candidate forums; and collaboration with the "Respeta Mi Gente" campaign, which emphasized voter mobilization efforts across the Puerto Rican diaspora.
Although not all winning gubernatorial, House and Senate candidates will champion positions that speak directly to our communities' concerns, we cannot downplay the impact that Latino voters have had this midterm election. According to early voting data, we saw a 174 percent increase in Hispanic voter participation compared to the 2014 midterms. As a result, nine U.S. House districts where Hispanics represent at least 10 percent of eligible voters saw changes in leadership, including Florida’s 26th and 27th districts.
While we know our work to mobilize the Latino vote doesn’t end here, we are proud of all our brothers and sisters who took their concerns to the polls this November. As we look ahead to the census and presidential election in 2020, we are confident that by continuing our work to educate the Latino community about the importance of voting, voter turnout will only continue to soar, reshaping the electoral landscape as we know it.”
