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GOP Betting Texas Will Find Formula For Latino Votes
David Martin Davies
Texas State Senator Wendy Davis gives a speech in San Antonio.
SAN ANTONIO — The race to see who will be the next governor of Texas is already underway, and some say it's already over. Election watchers say Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott, a Republican candidate, is the clear front runner. Abbott is turning his campaign into an overt overture to win Texas Latinos to the Republican Party.
Usually in Texas when politicians want to make a big splash they do it in the Capital of Austin, or Houston, or Dallas — the state's big media markets. But not anymore.
When Texas Governor Rick Perry made the announcement he would not seek re-election, he went to Latino-dominated San Antonio.
When Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis made her last stand against the controversial abortion bill, she traveled to the Alamo City.
Abbott announced he was running for governor, he did it in San Antonio and played up his connection by marriage to the Latino community.
"Our marriage has lasted because our relationship has been based on the same foundational principal, even though we came from different houses - dos casas pero una fundacion," Abbott said, switching from English to Spanish.
So why is so much political traffic coming thru San Antonio? It's all politics.
"San Antonio is obviously one of the great cities of Texas, but it is the city with a large Hispanic population and both sides, Democrat and Republican, in Texas realize the demographic changes taking place," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "The Hispanic vote is rising and Republicans know they've got to win 40 percent of it if they are going to retain their majority in Texas."
Jillson says the Texas Republican Party is turning up the heat on their effort to attract Latino voters, and the National GOP is watching.
"Texas is certainly the laboratory for the Republican Party, because Texas is going to be a model for the Republican Party for success or failure depending on how they decide to address Hispanics in Texas," Jillson said. "And right now they don't have a positive message."
Abbott's first whistle stop after announcing his campaign was to a Mexican restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley. And he made it clear that he wanted Latino support in his campaign and again played up his wife's Latina heritage.
David Martin Davies
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott campaigns on the border looking for Latino support for his gubernatorial campaign.
"She is the daughter of mi suegra Maria De La Luz Segura Falin, and she will be the first Latina First Lady in the history of the state of Texas," Abbott told the crowd in McAllen.
In his stump speech, Abbott builds a case that, like in his marriage, Latino voters share fundamental values with the Republican Party.
"We will build upon that foundation in the future and expand the unification across the state of Texas," Abbott said. "And we will stand strong for the Hispanic community from the Rio Grande to the Red Rivers."
But Texas Democrats say Abbott's track record means more to Latino voters than his campaign speech.
"It's clear from the positions that Greg Abbott has taken on every issue that is important to Latinos that he's about as anti-Latino as you can be," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa.
Hinojosa said Abbott has been against the real issues that matter to Texas Latino voters — issues like poverty, immigration reform, funding education, voter identification and redistricting.
"The fact that he believes that he's married to a Hispanic woman, that he says he supports Hispanic issues, doesn't translate into actually supporting what's important to Hispanics in Texas," Hinojosa said.
The election for Texas governor isn't until November 2014. And the Republican leadership in Austin and Washington, D.C. will be watching closely to see if the Texas political laboratory finds the formula that can deliver Latino GOP votes.