DES MOINES, Iowa — Bernie Sanders has “barrio cred.”
That might sound like a crazy thing to say about the 78-year-old senator from one of the whitest states in the country. But Latino activists say they hear all the time from voters in their community who are high on Sanders, and that’s backed by polling showing him leading or tied among Latinos. Sanders won the highly coveted endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. His campaign co-chair is San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. Afro-Latina rapper Cardi B is a fan.
Sanders’ star support from prominent Latinas “gives him barrio cred, street cred for this old white Jewish dude who is running for president,” said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Garcia backed the Vermont senator in 2016 but, as president of LULAC, has refrained from endorsing a candidate in the current primary.
The fact that Joe Biden is counting on strong support from African Americans to win the Democratic nomination is widely known. Less understood is the similar bet that Sanders is making on Latino voters: His campaign believes that by driving up turnout among Latinos, as well as young and working-class voters of all ethnicities, he can build out the electorate, bring new voters into the fold, and expand the 15 to 20 percent of Democratic voters who zealously support the democratic socialist.
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There’s also the reality that Sanders probably can’t win the Democratic nomination without Latinos, since his campaign is relying on a strong finish in states such as Nevada and California.
Speaking to a crowd of hundreds of Latinos at a LULAC town hall in Iowa last week, Sanders received the loudest welcome of any presidential candidate in attendance, rousing the audience as he took the stage. It was another promising sign for Sanders, whose team believes his message of “Medicare for All” and workers’ rights has clearly struck a chord among Latinos.
“They’re enormously important,” Sanders said in an interview with POLITICO. “We are seeing the Latino population growing very significantly. We’re seeing young people getting involved in the political process in a very important way. The challenge that we face is that, historically, voter turnout in the Latino community is not very high. So we are doing everything we can in a variety of ways to organize.”
Source: The surprise voting bloc Bernie is banking on to win the nomination
