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question everything

(49,077 posts)
Fri Dec 20, 2024, 01:40 PM Friday

I talked to Ruben Gallego. Democrats should listen to him. - Rubin WaPo

In a bleak election cycle for Democrats, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) defeated Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race, outpacing Vice President Kamala Harris by roughly four points and by nine points among Latino men. Democrats, naturally, want to know how he did it. For starters, Gallego has an extraordinary biography. Raised in a poor neighborhood by a single mother, he worked his way through school, became the first in his family to go to college (Harvard), then enlisted in the Marines and deployed to Iraq in a unit that suffered some of the war’s worst losses.

(snip)

Critically, Gallego grasped that voters, including many Latino men, “felt like they were drowning” because of inflation. He told me, “They felt betrayed. They felt that they let their family down.” Facing this as an emotional and not just an economic issue, Gallego recognized the need to give people permission to “not blame themselves.” When cutting an ad on rising prices, he improvised a line speaking to this sentiment — “It’s not your fault.”

Gallego did not shy away from border security. As a progressive with a no-nonsense attitude about the border, he pushed the administration to plan for the end of covid-driven immigration restrictions known as Title 42. After last summer’s executive order to tighten border restrictions, Gallego said it was “a step in the right direction,” but also emphasized the need to “hire more Border Patrol agents, fix our broken asylum system and keep our communities safe.”

(snip)

Gallego warns Democrats not to treat Latinos as a monolith. “Not all immigrants are the same. Not all the people that cross the border have the same experience, and even within those communities they don’t all think about them themselves the same way,” he said. An undocumented immigrant working here for decades does not see his situation as the same as that of a recent border crosser, even if it’s someone from the same country.

(snip)

Above all, Gallego talked to and listened to voters where they were — at rodeos, boxing matches and Mexican restaurants. He knew he had to reach voters who never follow political news. He told me that for just $400, he went to a minor league soccer match and handed out “Gallego” jerseys — letting fans spread his name. He advises Democrats to do such events consistently; it’s not enough to do one event “to check a box.”

https://wapo.st/3VQOIRn

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I talked to Ruben Gallego. Democrats should listen to him. - Rubin WaPo (Original Post) question everything Friday OP
"An undocumented immigrant working here for displacedvermoter Friday #1
Or, "If they get a break, I should get one too" which is not entirely unreasonable. eppur_se_muova Friday #2
Unfortunately, human nature and our history displacedvermoter Friday #4
Ahem. I do have one question. Baitball Blogger Friday #3

displacedvermoter

(3,221 posts)
1. "An undocumented immigrant working here for
Fri Dec 20, 2024, 01:55 PM
Friday

Last edited Sat Dec 21, 2024, 11:33 AM - Edit history (1)

decades does not see his situation as the same as a recent border crosser"!!!

I got mine, in other words. More words of wisdom.

eppur_se_muova

(37,653 posts)
2. Or, "If they get a break, I should get one too" which is not entirely unreasonable.
Fri Dec 20, 2024, 02:06 PM
Friday

Unfortunately, no one seems to be addressing that adequately.

displacedvermoter

(3,221 posts)
4. Unfortunately, human nature and our history
Fri Dec 20, 2024, 03:07 PM
Friday

show that new waves of immigrants are taken advantage of and oppressed by the previous wave of immigrants. The new folks are different, are perceived as a threat to jobs, and are easy targets.

My own French Canadian ancestors were scorned and abused by the Irish, who themselves had been scorned and abused by Scottish and German immigrants. And today I fear, descendants of those same French Canadians are among the most virulent bashers of the black and brown folks arriving today.

Baitball Blogger

(48,420 posts)
3. Ahem. I do have one question.
Fri Dec 20, 2024, 02:19 PM
Friday

It's really not a Democratic objective to spend resources on undocumented immigrants for the sole purpose of getting votes, right? Because they don't vote.

But we are supporting them based on humanitarian and economic reasons, right?

With luck, once they become naturalized, the hope is that they'll vote Democratic, but there is never a guarantee.

Mostly, I don't think many of these newly Americanized immigrants, and I mean all of them, truly understand how politics works in this country. It's almost impossible to rewire the brains of those who suffered from socialist regimes to understand that when Republicans say they're anti-socialism, they mean they want to do away with social security and medicare. I've given up on the Democratic Party in getting that message across.

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