The Hispanic community has become “antagonistic” toward the Democratic Party, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a pit stop in San Antonio.
He vowed to win more than half of the Hispanic vote in the upcoming gubernatorial election to applause Tuesday at the Texas Latino Conservative Lunch.
Abbott said most Hispanic people are in favor of securing the southern border and funding law enforcement agencies such as the police — in contrast with most Democrats, including his opponent Beto O’Rourke.
“With your help, we will keep Texas red,” he said to an audience of about 150 at the Witte Museum’s Mays Family Center. “We will ensure that we turn South Texas red.”
Data indicate the numbers are trending upward for Republicans in Bexar County, where about 60 percent of the population is Hispanic.
In March 2018, 69,695, about 44 percent, of voters cast a ballot in the Republican primary, compared with 89,015, about 48 percent in this year’s primary.
Samuel Delgado Jr., who attended the luncheon with his wife at the invitation of their friend Bexar County District Attorney candidate Marc LaHood, agreed with Abbott’s assessment, noting many of his Latino friends have become disenchanted with the Democratic Party and its policy stances.
“We’re definitely going that way, toward the Republicans,” Delgado, 47, said.
Delgado, a business owner, thinks the Democrats are misguided on key issues such as border security and policing.
“I do think that we do need to take care of us before (immigrants trying to enter the United States),” he said.
During his remarks, Abbott denounced Democratic politicians, referring to some by name. Invoking U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has become a popular punching bag for the right, he lamented what he saw as the devolution of the Democratic Party.
“There was a time when they used to be Democrats, and then they became liberals, and then they became progressives. Now they are socialists. They are representing and articulating and advancing the policies of Ocasio-Cortez,” Abbott said, later promising to “fire (Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) Nancy Pelosi.”
He concluded by firing up the crowd with a promise to “save America from Biden and Beto and keep Texas the greatest state in the greatest nation in the history of the world.” He received a standing ovation.
Not all attendees were of Hispanic descent. Wearing a cowboy hat, program manager Ed Olszanowski, 55, who described himself as white, said the event had “opened his eyes” to changes occurring within the Latino voting bloc.
“Hearing some of the statistics, it’s pretty impressive how things are kind of shifting,” he said.
Like Delgado, Olszanowski listed border security and policing as examples of political issues close to his heart. While he didn’t necessarily believe a wall was the end-all-be-all solution to preventing illegal immigration, he said the problem was a pressing one affecting the San Antonio community. Something needed to be done about it.
“People are coming across the border. We don’t know who they are anymore,” he said. “We even see it in San Antonio — the gang wars that are going on on the South Side of San Antonio, the gang lords that live here and are allowed to stay here. There’s no security anymore. I think there really needs to be a focus on that.”
Both Delgado and Olszanowski had previously voted for Abbott. Having seen him in person now, would they do so again in 2022?
“Yes,” they agreed.
