EDITORIAL: WILL THE 2024 LATINO VOTER SIMMER BOIL OVER?

As California’s sunbeams emerge from what seems to have been a very prolonged cold snap, community observers realize that the increased temperatures may bring the Latino voter simmer to a boil.

During the fall’s Presidential elections, Latino voters expressed their concerns with the status quo by reluctantly voting for the Democratic incumbent or aggressively and spitefully voting for her unqualified opponent. The core of their message seemed to be that the Latino community has not received its due attention.

Latinos are middle-class aspirational or struggling to move beyond it. Latino voters have been the stalwart foundation of the Democratic Party and have seen their fortunes and futures diminish over the last decade. Regardless of who they feel is to blame, the expression of frustration felt in November was sent in an attempt to set things straight. Obviously, the outcomes we're experiencing—higher prices due to tariffs, educational programs shut down, small businesses at risk—are contrary to their collective desire.

Next week in Anaheim California, the heart of the Republican party's stronghold, a group of Latino Democratic Party activists will meet at the California Democratic Party Convention to choose their party leadership, course, and direction. 

The vital question is: will they take the opportunity to change course in the direction that Latino voters have indicated they desire? Even though a very strong case can be made that brown voters are what turned California first purple and then blue, Latino families have not received tangible evidence that their middle-class dreams have been enshrined in the Democratic state party agenda.

While some party activists may believe that rehashing old slogans while attacking Donald Trump is sufficient to prove leadership ability and vision, the activists who understand know that the only way to regroup the community that is steadily losing faith in the Democratic Party is to chart a direction that focuses on building a strong Latino middle class.

This is not only a nationalistic desire, it is a necessity because a safe and free Latino middle class is good for the state and for the survival of our constitution.

After the disastrous November election, we have not seen the emergence of an agenda or an effort that clearly goes to the heart of the Latino community and says "We Democrats hear you and we will do better." 

The pro-Latino community agenda must be clear:

- Increase access to education, whether that includes vocational schools that are collapsing under the weight of the DOGE chainsaw and increased access to traditional higher education in the professional fields.

- Increase access to small business opportunities, training, and certification programs that legitimize those businesses and help entrepreneurs move forward and establish themselves in the marketplace.

- Increase access to government contracting. This is not about affirmative action. When the plurality of a state's population is systematically excluded from being able to compete for contracts that they qualify for, it is not about “leveling the playing field”—it's about dismantling an apartheid-like business system that the state has set up that prefers contractors that are already in the system and holds higher and often unforgiving barriers to new enterprises the majority of which are owned by Latinos and African Americans.

Last year, Gavin Newsom made it possible for more people, regardless of their educational background, but based on their experience, to compete for and qualify for jobs as state employees. The state party activists must demand, and Gavin Newsom must relent, to reform and remove the barriers that block fairness in state government contracting and local government contracting as well.

These are all achievable goals, but they can only be accomplished if the activists that meet next week demand it. There are powers in place that will say these things are impossible, unachievable, or for some reason currently untenable. Those are people that need to be challenged until they relent, and if they don't relent, they need to be moved out of the way.

It's only by demonstrating this commitment and leadership, that the Democratic Party can regain the trust it is so quickly losing. As the sun breaks through the grey sky and people begin to see beyond the clouds we can point to the dismal results of 2024 or point to a new horizon of opportunity. The choice is ours.