Latino Strategy

As Latinos continue to shape the future of our country, we must ensure that the Democratic Party earns their trust, engagement, and votes. For too long, Latino communities have been treated as a monolith and taken for granted.

Nate Snyder’s Latino Strategy for the DNC is about changing that—ensuring year-round organizing, meaningful investment, and a tailored approach that recognizes the diversity of Latino experiences across the country.

RECOGNIZE LATINO DIVERSITY

The Latino community is diverse. We need to develop the party’s capacity to adapt strategy and messaging depending on characteristics of the Latino electorate. Whether they are U.S.-born or more recent arrivals, their country of origin and other factors play into how voters respond to our message. We need to demonstrate that we understand the different experiences so we can be credible and build trust.

LOCK IT DOWN

According to PEW Latinos were projected to account for 14.7% of all eligible voters in November 2024, a new high. This share has steadily increased over the past two decades and is up from 13.6% in 2020.

Every year 800,000 Latinos become eligible to vote^1; we cannot simply assume they will become Democrats. We need to have the infrastructure in place to make sure we can identify and engage these new potential voters, register them to vote, get to know their local elected officials, follow issues, etc. so when the next election comes, they know what is at stake and turn out to vote.

Invest in permanent voter registration efforts.

We need to work with local partners to fund year-round, permanent efforts to register voters, educate them about their options to cast a vote such as vote by mail and early voting, and ensure they are aware of efforts to disenfranchise them.

Invest in voter protection against efforts to disenfranchise.

Raise awareness about efforts to disenfranchise voters, work with partners at the local level to promote reforms that protect the right to vote and expand access, and challenge restrictive voting laws.

Invest in rapid response to disinformation.

The way people consume news and information has been transformed. We need to adapt to this new reality and Identify new strategies, platforms and tactics to break through the disinformation machine.

BUILD NEW INFRASTRUCTURE

Commit to year-round organizing.

We need to show up in communities and have visible, meaningful presence on and off the cycle. To get there, we need to develop relationships, understand local issues; empower and include those who have been fighting for their communities for years, often without the support and resources of the Democratic party; and identify, mentor and train a new generation of activists, campaign workers, policy experts and emerging leaders who can sustain and lead this work.

Develop Culturally Competent Campaigns and GOTV efforts.

We need to update our playbook and develop culturally competent campaign teams that represent and reflect the communities they organize. This will enable us to build and adjust strategies and messages based on what is relevant, communicate in a way that can motivate and persuade voters, and identify and address misinformation.

Develop a talent bank of consultants and vendors with ties to Latino communities and track record of work with Latino communities.

As the Latino electorate grows and we need to adapt our strategies, we need to be working with teams that know and understand this constituency. Partner with organizations that are promoting the talent and voices of Latino consultants, campaign staff, communication professionals and bilingual spokespeople to build the best qualified DNC team. Also, most importantly, leverage the expertise, reach, and leadership of the DNC Latino Caucus.

Support organizations that conduct research on the Latino electorate and communities.

We can build our capacity to organize and reach Latino voters by building partnerships and supporting Latino-serving organizations that have invested resources to conduct research, polling and analysis of the Latino electorate.

USE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AS THE CORE MESSAGE

Empower Latino economic strength. Latino workers and small businesses power this country. The community also does not deserve to be vilified and has more in common with the rest of the country as it pertains to priorities such as: the rising cost of living, jobs and the economy, education, and the rising concern of white nationalist extremism. Economic messaging can be framed for individual effects as it pertains to a freeze in the agricultural sector, higher prices, stalled community economic activity and growth, and threats to livelihoods due to the recent performative raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Majority-Latino cities experience different socioeconomic status levels and power dynamics that may also impact how they perceive individual versus community messaging.

MEET VOTERS WHERE THEY ARE AT

According to UNIDOS US 45% of Latino voters reported they were not contacted this election and only 33% noted that they were contacted by Democrats. It is hard to point to a single reason as to why, but it seems clear that at a minimum the community was taken for granted. There was no investment in outreach and the party made non data-driven assumptions about what Latinos cared about. While immigration and border security were important issues to the community, neither broke the top 5 issue areas that Latino voters ranked as priority. All these statistics are based on post election research done by UNIDOS US^2. However, had the preliminary research from Equis been taken to heart, it was abundantly clear that inflation and the economy were key concerns.^3 Despite repeated pleas, our Party continuously fails to recognize that the Latino community is diverse and responds differently depending on immigrant experience (recent, established, U.S.-born, here for generations, country of origin and reasons for leaving their countries of origin, etc.). We also failed to effectively push back against the Republican narrative on the economy, the different ways that the Biden-Harris administration delivered for workers and the middle class. All that combined, people saw it better to stay home.

Listen to the experts in the community.

The DNC needs to work more closely with organizations like Equis, UNIDOS US, and others that can provide research and analysis about the Latino electorate and adapt our campaign and outreach playbook accordingly based on the data. According to PEW Latinos were projected to account for 14.7% of all eligible voters in November 2024, a new high. This share has steadily increased over the past two decades and is up from 13.6% in 2020. In 2000, by comparison, Hispanics made up just 7.4% of U.S. eligible voters. If trends are to continue, we need to be the Party capturing these new voters and finding out ways to reach them early and often.

Localize messaging.

Develop a local playbook for messaging dependent on specific social, economic, cultural-country backgrounds and informed by grassroot efforts. Keep the message simple and focus on what will resonate.

Don’t ignore non-majority Latino areas.

There are growing Latino populations in rural areas and other non-traditional states where Latinos can add to the margin. We need to continue to grow coalitions between progressive urban centers, diversifying suburbs and rural communities. Frame shared goals around infrastructure, education, health care and economic opportunity.

Don’t ignore faith-based communities.

The Latino evangelical community in the U.S. is approximately 10 million strong. While not all will align with Democratic policy positions, we can appeal to these voters on shared moral priorities such as ending poverty at home and abroad, caring for the sick, welcoming immigrants, and caring for the environment.

PLAY THE LONG GAME

Build the bench.

Nurture, support and develop talent for campaigns and for other leadership positions in the party. Identify and mentor potential candidates. This requires the DNC to invest in state parties to lower the threshold and barriers to allow for increased candidate recruitment and provide incentives for those in the community to run. The DNC Latino Caucus should have leadership roles when it comes to facilitating candidate recruitment and ensuring there is consistent representation at the table. Even further, at-large DNC member appointments need to reflect the diversity of the country and the party–Latino representation needs to be expanded, especially as it pertains to youth leadership.