GOP election wins in the Central Valley means Democrats must activate Latino voters | Opinion

It was an honor to be re-elected to the California State Senate by a 13% margin of victory, but my joy in continuing to serve the residents of Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties was tempered by a string of losses that could have been avoided.

Fellow Democrats Adam Gray and Rudy Salas were defeated in their congressional races. Those losses helped give Republicans majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives. These outcomes, plus razor-thin victories by other Democrats in the Central Valley congressional races, should signal to the national Democratic Party that serious adjustments need to be made to compete for votes.

The Central Valley electorate is becoming younger and increasingly Latino. As a result, the traditional Democratic playbook can no longer be counted on to win elections or to build broad-based political strength in California’s key emerging power center.

In previous races I’ve run, most notably in 2010 and 2018, Democratic party regulars advised me to appeal to moderate swing voters known as “Valleycrats.” I was told that those voters were the key to victory. I accepted the advice in 2010, and I lost. I discounted the advice in 2018 and won.

In 2018, we found our winning margin among Latino voters. We targeted our field campaign to reach over 55,000 Latino voters who were highly partisan Democrats, but who failed to vote in the previous, off-year state senate elections.

According to a statistical analysis done by Dr. Lisa Garcia Bedolla of UC Berkeley, a well-known expert on Latino political engagement, our efforts resulted in a 10% increase in the turnout of Latino voters.

This was the key to our victory.

The 2018 electorate skewed younger and more Latino than any similar election in district history. This trend has continued. In my November 2022 reelection, we designed our winning strategy along similar lines as 2018, this time emphasizing younger Latina voters. Our efforts were successful and led to our early, decisive 13% victory margin.

Democrats must adjust to develop campaign strategies and tactics that address younger, Latino voters.

More importantly, Democrats must invest in getting Latino voters to turn out for our candidates and our issues. These efforts cannot be limited to the weeks preceding an election. Democrats must dedicate resources to the systemic and disciplined work of developing leadership and organizing votes in the “off-season” between elections.

I never stopped organizing voters after I won the state senate election in 2018. Despite criticism from urban political consultants, I kept my campaign manager, a seasoned community organizer, on my campaign payroll. For three years, he coordinated an organizing effort. We worked with a dedicated and talented group of neighborhood leaders, and between 2019 and 2021 we held more than 40 house meetings, many on Zoom.

We also helped leaders activate their networks to advocate for their communities and engage in developing and supporting my legislative agenda. We prepared these leaders to play a key role in my run for reelection to the state senate in 2022. We grew our percentage of the vote in Merced County between the 2018 and 2022 elections, and this group of committed leaders deserves much of the credit.

The November 2022 election losses in the Central Valley as well as the close elections there are a wake-up call. Does the California Democratic Party really believe in and understand Central Valley voters? Is the party ready to fully partner with Central Valley voters?

It takes a commitment to real grassroots organizing, and it would be a mistake to depend on efforts funded by urban-based philanthropic foundations that parachute their agendas and resources into rural, farmworker communities, with no comprehension of the social, economic and political challenges faced by Central Valley residents or the solutions they want.

To win elections, Democrats cannot continue to use outdated assumptions and models without including the needs and voices of the people who live in the Valley.

This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 5:00 AM.