Republicans Boo Mention of Mexico
January 17th, 2012

Austin—In the South Carolina Republican presidential debate yesterday, the GOP audience booed moderator Juan Williams when he mentioned the word ‘Mexico.’

“It’s disgusting to see Republicans booing the mere mention of the word ‘Mexico’,” said TDP spokesperson Anthony Gutierrez. “Texas Democrats are making serious efforts to engage the Latino community while Republicans are downright hostile in both their words and actions.”

While Republicans continue to demonstrate hostility and disrespect towards Latinos, the Texas Democratic Party is making a concerted effort to reach out to this important community through the Promesa Project. The Promesa Project is the TDP’s aggressive Latino outreach program that will utilize online and grassroots techniques to ask young Latinos to be our Democratic messengers to their families and social networks.

In the coming weeks, the TDP will unfold phase two, or the field component, of the Promesa Project. The goal of the second phase of the Promesa Project is to generate a significant increase in Latino turnout for the 2012 Democratic Primary with a special emphasis on turning out new Latino voters. The TDP will place select college organizers in targeted campuses as fellows where they will conduct:

  • Voter Registration Drives
  • Campus Events
  • Earned Media
  • Video Production
  • Social Media
  • Social Media GOTV
  • Phone Banks

To learn more about the Promesa Project, you can visit www.promesaproject.com.

In contrast, the Latino-outreach efforts of the Republican presidential contenders:

  • Mitt Romney promises to veto the DREAM Act, which is supported by 85% of Latinos, and attacked DREAM Act students by saying they’re looking for a handout.
  • Romney tied himself at the hip and is campaigning with the architect of anti-immigrant state-level immigration laws, Kris Kobach, who authored both the Arizona and Alabama immigration laws.
  • Rick Santorum opposes any path to legalization for undocumented immigrants.
  • Newt Gingrich called Spanish the language of the ghetto.
  • Rick Perry slashed billions from public education the first year Latinos made up more than 50% of students in Texas public schools. Perry also touted the endorsement of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and named Arpaio chair of his presidential efforts in Arizona.