The Republican National Committee is opening several “Hispanic community centers” in key locations in an attempt to make further inroads in the growing sector of the electorate ahead of the midterm elections, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
By the end of this month, the GOP is expected to have such centers in Doral, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Texas locations in McAllen, Laredo, and San Antonio, marking the earliest in an election cycle that the RNC has ever opened these types of operations.
The centers are part of the Republican Party’s multimillion-dollar minority outreach effort after Hispanic and Latino voters helped give the GOP some of its biggest gains in the last election.
“We’re going have a place where not only we can convey our message to them, but we will also be able to listen to them and find out what is it that they expect from us, from the party, from their elected officials,” RNC Hispanic communications director Jaime Florez said.
The main goal of the centers is to recruit and train volunteers, register voters, and bring them out to cast ballots during election season, but RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said the office spaces could be offered for a study hall or community program or a place to watch soccer games in an effort to make the centers a more human, home base.
A National Republican Senatorial Committee poll of Hispanic voters in battleground states in May gave the GOP reason to believe it can build on its support among this sector, which appeared to identify with Republican values.
The survey found that 63% of Hispanics valued capitalism over socialism, and 50% said that policies presented as helping all minorities actually do harm to Hispanic families. In addition, the border crisis and sharp increases in illegal immigration make Hispanics 48% less likely to vote Democrat.
Republicans have seen a steady increase in support from Hispanic and Latino voters over the last decade, although the 32% won by Doanld Trump last year was still behind the 40% captured by President George W. Bush in 2004.
Some of the most positive shifts for the GOP came in Florida, where the Latino vote shifted by 10 points from 2016 to 2020 in favor of Republicans. That was a factor in Republicans flipping two key South Florida House seats.