New Mexico GOP opens community centers to attract Hispanic voters

The National Republican Committee is opening two community centers in New Mexico in an attempt to attract Hispanic voters.

The GOP intends the centers to serve as a gathering place for volunteers to educate voters on the issues relevant to the party, according to The Border Report.

One such center was inaugurated last week in Las Cruces by the Chairman of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Steve Pearce. The second center is also scheduled to open in Las Cruces.

“We’re trying to put Republicans into communities where I think we have been lax in the past,” Pearce said. “I represented this 2nd District of New Mexico for 14 years [….] and the national media kept saying, ‘how does a Republican win (a Hispanic majority district)?’ I said, ‘because I don’t talk Republican or Democrat. I talk about issues, I talk about people, I talk about your family.’”

New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, which is 55% Hispanic, has flipped between Democrats and Republicans in the past two elections. Representative Yvette Herrell, R-New Mexico, along with other GOP members are trying to hold on to a seat in the Democratic legislature that was carved up during redistricting.

“We know it’s difficult to win in New Mexico if you don’t have at least a percentage of Democrats voting Republican,” said Santiago Soto, a volunteer. “In 2020, we went down there, and we went knocking on doors. We had Spanish speakers, we spoke the language – English or Spanish – that we had to, to get the word out.”

Soto added that while most Hispanic voters traditionally identified with the Democratic Party, they might start identifying more with the Republican Party due to their views on family values, religion, and abortion.

“(Hispanic) Democrats are realizing their party is their party is not the way it used to be,” Soto continued. “It used to be, no questions asked, we’re going to vote Democrat. That’s gone because the party is gone and we are attracting more and more Democrats to vote Republican. It happened in Sunland Park, it’s happening all over the country.”

“Hispanic voters that are registered Democrat, they see that. They don’t need Yvette Herrell to tell them that the Democratic Party has moved away from the traditional parents of their grandparents and parents because they care about the cost of gas, they care about the cost of groceries. They care that their kids get a great education and are concerned that their businesses stay open,” said Herrell.