Home Politics Should Joe Biden pick a Latina as a VP?

Should Joe Biden pick a Latina as a VP?

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Latino political leaders and activists around the country are saying it’s time to put a Hispanic woman in the White House. From organizations like the Latino Victory Fund to congressional representative  Joaquín Castro, Latinos believe that this would ensure victory against Donald Trump in November.

“Part of what the Biden campaign has been thinking, and thinking very deeply about it and grappling within, is how do we bring more Latinos into the fold,”  Mayra Macias, executive director of Latino Victory said to CNN.

“In addition to obviously us helping bring some folks into the fold, I think having a Latina on the ticket is a way, and a very visible way, of bringing Latinos into the fold,” she said. 

Two of the Latinas elevated by the Victory Fund for the vice-presidential post are Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham: the first Latina to serve in the Senate and the first Latina to be elected governor by the Democratic Party, respectively.

The group wrote on Twitter, that Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar and New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez are also solid options. 

“The Latino community is an important part of a winning coalition not only in states like Florida, Arizona, and Texas, but also in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Strong support from Latino voters is essential to defeating Donald Trump in November,” Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told CNN in a statement. “Latina leaders deserve to be fully vetted and seriously considered – this process should not just be a check-the-box exercise or a substitute for substantial community investment.”

Women represent half of the 60 million Latinos in the country, and 18 percent of all women, according to NBC News.

The Biden campaign told NBC that the team is considering seven women at this time, and promised it would run “a vigorous vetting process.

A Latina candidate at his side could be the boost Biden needs to win over the Latino electorate, which still has doubts about whether to support the former vice president of one of the administrations with the highest deportation rates in recent years.

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