Diaz-Balart & Gonzales Discuss Hispanic Outreach and Their Efforts to Expand the GOP

WASHINGTON, DC – The Ripon Society held a breakfast discussion last Thursday with two Republicans who are leading the charge to recruit more Hispanic candidates to run for political office and ensure the GOP makes inroads in Hispanic communities across the country.

Those leaders were U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) and Tony Gonzales (TX-23), who are Chair and Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, respectively. Diaz Balart kicked things off by outlining how the GOP can win over Hispanic voters.

“You’re starting to see a dramatic change in the attitudes of the Hispanic population around the country,” Diaz-Balart stated. “I always warn people, it’s not that Hispanics love Republicans, but they’re getting really, really concerned about what the Democrats are doing, and what the Democratic Party has become, frankly.”

“I’ve been hearing for a long time, ‘Latinos should be Republicans because they’re conservative, because they’re hardworking, because they don’t trust government, because they believe in making sure that they have control of their kids’ education, and they support public safety.’ My question in return has always been, ‘Alright, but then why aren’t they Republican?’ And I think the answer to that really is rhetoric. It’s not policy.”

“If we can just get Republicans to understand that no matter how good the policy may be, if you insult somebody, you’re going to lose them. That realization is starting to happen. And more importantly, the realization that the Democratic Party that has become the party of the extreme left just does not fit with Latinos in the United States. We are now entering, I think, an historic moment.”
Gonzales agreed.

“It’s exciting to see the future of where our party is going,” the first-term lawmaker stated. “Oftentimes, we all hear the same things: ‘Why aren’t Hispanics Republicans?’ I think a lot of times it’s because they don’t have an option to vote for. And for the first time in a long time, we have so many Hispanic candidates up and down the ballot in every single race that you can imagine. That is very powerful.

“The other piece of it is you can’t just show up into a community two weeks before the election, speak a little broken Spanish, and then take off and think you’re good, right? You can’t just throw some money in Spanish TV and go, ‘There’s our Hispanic outreach.’ You can’t do that because guess what? They’re going to see right through that, like any other community would. You have to show up early, you have to show up often, and you have to be genuine.”

Gonzales explained that, along with needing to interact with Hispanic communities, Republican candidates must also stand for a platform that offers realistic solutions to today’s biggest issues.

“The other thing I would say is people are tired, to Mario’s point. People are tired of the rhetoric. We know what’s wrong. We know we’re paying $5 for gas. We know the border is out of control. We know inflation is through the roof. We know there are no housing opportunities. We have to be the party of solutions.”

The pair then took a number of questions from the audience, including what they will be talking about to voters back home about ahead of Election Day.

“One of the things that I’m really excited about is what Kevin McCarthy put together,” Diaz-Balart said, alluding to the House GOP’s Commitment to America. “If you look at what happened when Democrats took control, it took them a while to figure out what they were doing. We’re not going to have that problem. We already have an agenda.

“It’s going to be an agenda that Republican candidates are going to be able to use, and on issues that resonate. More important is that on the first day we’re going to hit the ground running with this agenda.”

For Gonzales, he points to border security as not only his top priority here in Washington, but the primary concern for his constituents back in Texas.

“I represent 42% of the Southern Border. It takes me ten hours to get from one end of my district to the other. It’s two time zones. It’s just a lot—Texas 23 is just a lot. We’re at the frontline of this border crisis and we have been for a very long time. One of the things that I’ve done is host other Members of Congress in the district to see it firsthand.

“I tell folks that, yes, you’re going to see the border. You’re going to see the security piece to it. You’re going to get all those fancy photos that you see all the time, and you’re going to be able to have all these talking points to be able to go on Fox and do all these media hits that you want to do. But you’re going to see a whole lot more to the border than just that.

“There is a cultural experience that people are getting, and they realize the people of South Texas are the same people of Northern Mexico. They’re the same. There just happens to be a border between them. From these visits, we get to have deeper conversations on immigration reform. I think this is something that the Republican party can lead on.”

Also attending last Thursday’s breakfast meeting was the newly elected Representative from Texas’s 34th Congressional District, Mayra Flores. To view the remarks of Diaz-Balart and Gonzales at the event, please click on the link below:

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.