Invest in growing Latina congressional representation.
- Despite constituting almost 10% of the total U.S. population, over 18% of all women in the U.S., and half of the largest racial/ethnic minority community, Latinas are vastly underrepresented at just 2.8% of the entire congressional body.
- Congress retains exclusive control over a number of political issues that disproportionately impact Latina/o/x communities such as immigration.
Continue to support and invest in Latina congressional candidates from California and Texas while working to expand opportunities for Latinas outside of these two states.
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California and Texas have the largest population centers of Latinas and more than half of all Latina congressional candidates have emerged from these two states in the past three congressional elections.
- Investments in these states – particularly outside the urban centers and in the California Central Valley and Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley – will help to build electoral capacity in historically underserved areas and support the next generation of Latina leaders
- Investing in training and early support for Latina candidates in states and districts with a critical or growing capacity of Latina/o/x voters – such as Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and New Jersey – will increase the competitiveness of Latina candidates and the likelihood of electing additional Latina candidates to Congress.
Be attentive to strategies that increasingly pit Latinas against each other and against other women of color; stymieing any Latina advantage.
- Hold party leaders accountable in recruiting and supporting candidates to ensure Latinas solicited to run have the experience and capacity to make a competitive run and are not simply used as political tokens or weapons aimed against other Latinas.
- Dissuade party leaders from flooding the primary in open seat elections or newly redistricted areas, reducing the likelihood that emerging Latina candidates will be able to advance to the general election.
- Correct media narratives that trade in misinformation or incomplete information that can lead to stereotyping (e.g., All Latinas speak Spanish, all Latinas are Democrats, “Brown wave” of Latina Republicans taking over in 2022).
Recognize and address the distinctly gendered and racialized forms of violence and harassment confronted by Latina candidates and officeholders as a threat to democracy.
- Immediate impacts include additional costs borne by women for security at home and work and additional security concerns for family members, including children and dependents, curtailed in-person office hours and events that impact both constituent relationships and fundraising, backlash for support on policies specifically targeted to shield or support vulnerable and marginalized populations (e.g., immigration reform).
- Potential long-term effects include more women who are targets of racialized and gendered abuse leaving office, cutting short their terms or their candidacies, or avoiding public office altogether. Undermining the candidacy or tenure of Latinas in Congress and Latina candidates not only threatens the political institutions, it specifically undermines advances in racial and gender justice, inclusion, and expanded forms of democratic representation embodied in their work.
- Recognize that forms of targeted harassment and political violence aimed at women and people of color in office are increasing and need to be specifically named, tracked, and addressed at the local, state, and national levels.
- Seek out coalitions and alliances that not only protect and aid women who are experiencing targeted violence but also provide social, political, cultural, and mental support.
Challenge discouragement from established party organizations, leaders, and surrogates to Latina candidacies.
- Be aware of formal or informal practices that exclude Latina candidates from running or receiving necessary financial and political support (e.g., lists of viable replacement candidates or lines of succession that exclude Latinas, outdated nomination practices, party patronage practices that only benefit men).
Create more formalized and accessible support infrastructures for Latinas that are attentive to their distinct realities.
- Pressure parties and civic organizations, including women’s organizations, to create or bolster opportunities attentive to their intersectional positions and identities.
- Recognize unique location as women of color and the intersecting modes of subordination at work in their lives that also weighed on their campaigns. Don’t assume strategies or programs that are gender- or race-neutral will be sufficient to attend to the needs of Latina candidates.
- Create non-partisan training and political education programs for Latina candidates, particularly in states and districts with smaller or emerging contingent of Latina/o/x voters or who lack networks of support and prior patterns of Latina election to office.
- Seek out and invite Latina community leaders to participate in formal party committees, infrastructure, and organization, especially in ways that support their interests and identities.
- Support mindful mentoring of Latinas at all stages of their political development.
- Recognize colorism, machismo, and maternalism as problematic patterns that work against Latinas and frequently occur in progressive organizations intended to support women and people of color.
- Support Latinas who take on the work of creating networks of their own and compensate the labor and costs incurred in developing supportive Latina-led networks.
- Recognize that the communities of care and comadrismo shared among Latinas are an important space that needs to be sustained for the benefit of individual candidates as well as traditional parties.