In Florida, a network of immigrant rights organizations, unions and leftist nonprofits aligned to bring out the vote for more than a year, according to Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
In the past year, they knocked on 1 million doors of low- and mid-propensity voters throughout the state, nearly 60 percent of whom were Latino. In the trendy Miami Modern District, they handed out cups of Cuban coffee near a mural depicting Trump as a flying pig, to attract young Latinos to vote; they invested in ads on salsa radio stations on Pandora that encouraged listeners to vote early. They scoured areas with large Central American populations to interact with Honduran and Nicaraguan voters who are not typically targeted.
The community seemed ready to engage, according to Monica Russo, executive vice president of the local Service Employees International Union. Those voters who answered the doors were already concerned with raising the federal minimum wage and immigration reform. By the time Trump captured the Republican Party’s nomination, Russo said these voters were already inspired to make a difference.
“Folks don’t seem afraid,” Russo said. “They seemed determined.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member