On Monday, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) unveiled a new team tasked with winning over Hispanic voters in Florida.
The new staffers are part of a national Hispanic outreach effort launched by the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Monday. Besides Florida, the RNC hired staff in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia to target Hispanic voters. Two of these states will be on center stage next month as Virginia elects a new governor, while Republicans hope to keep Gov. Chris Christie in office in New Jersey while holding off the U.S. Senate ambitions of Newark Mayor Cory Booker. The RNC plans to hire more staff for Hispanic outreach in 11 other states by the end of the year.
Todays announcement is unprecedented, insisted Reince Priebus, the chairman of the RNC, on Monday. This off-cycle effort will ensure our message of opportunity for all reaches voters. We are building a ground game that will allow us to compete for every voter and will outlast any one cycle or campaign. Im certain with these early and unprecedented investments we can achieve Republican victories up and down the ballot now and for years to come.
"We're building the most expansive field program the GOP has ever seen, and we're doing it earlier than ever before," said Priebus. "Republicans have never made this kind of investment in an off year. The RNC will be in communities engaging with and listening to voters where they live, work, and worship -- not months, but years before Election Day. Our state directors will play key roles in building a permanent field operation to be successful in elections this year, in 2014, in 2016, and beyond."
As part of the efforts, the RPOF brought in Alex Garcia to be state Hispanic director and Lourdes Aguirre and Jeanette Quinones-Hernandez to reach out to voters in the field.
"I'm excited to welcome Alex, Lourdes, and Jeannette to our Florida team. Their expertise and experience in the Hispanic community is very important and will be an asset to our team as we look forward to 2014 and beyond," said RPOF Chairman Lenny Curry. "I'm confident they will help us build an effective ground operation and mobilize Florida's strong Hispanic community to compete for every single vote."
Garcia has long ties to Republican campaigns in Florida, heading up the campaigns for state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami. He also served both Flores and Bileca as a legislative aide. Originally from Puerto Rico but having been based in Central Florida for almost 25 years, Quinones-Hernandez worked on Marco Rubios U.S. Senate campaign in 2010 and Mitt Romneys presidential bid in 2012. Aguirre, who has worked in the media and with faith-based groups, was the executive producer of "Eres America.
In the 2012 presidential elections, President Barack Obama carried 71 percent of the Hispanic vote while Romney pulled only 27 percent. Only Bill Clinton did better with Hispanics when he took on Bob Dole back in 1996. Romney did better with Hispanic voters in Florida than he did at the national level, taking 39 percent of them in the Sunshine State while Obama carried 60 percent of them.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinDerbySSN.
