Thought I would share some good news about GOTV efforts (Get Out The Vote) from the New York Times. George Soros will contribute $5 million an effort to register Latino and Asian voters. This represents a return to the large-scale political spending last seen bey him in 2004, when he helped organize a failed $200 million advertising and voter-mobilization campaign to unseat President George W. Bush. His contributions to super PACs and other explicitly political organizations this cycle will soon exceed $13 million. That represents his largest political donation since the 2004 election. Mr. Soros has committed another $5 million to a Democratic-led legal campaign to contest restrictive voting laws in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
Mr. Soros, a financier who fled his native Hungary in 1947, fleeing Soviet dominance after enduring the Nazi occupation in hiding, has long funded less overtly political efforts to educate and organize immigrants. But in an email, Mr. Soros said he had been particularly struck by the tone of the 2016 race, in which Mr. Trump and other Republican candidates have also called to block Muslim refugees from entering the country.
“The intense anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been fueled by the Republican primary is deeply offensive,” Mr. Soros said. “It is harmful to our democracy and to our national interests. There should be consequences for the outrageous statements and proposals that we’ve regularly heard.”
The billionaire George Soros and other liberal donors will bankroll a new $15 million campaign to mobilize Latinos and other immigrants this fall, hoping to channel outrage at the political rhetoric of Donald J. Trump and other Republicans into a surge of votes for Democratic candidates in November.
Strategists involved said the new spending would be the largest Democratic voter-turnout effort ever devoted exclusively to Latino and immigrant voters. Most of the money will be spent through organizations in Colorado, Florida and Nevada, states with large or growing Latino and Asian populations that will be pivotal in the presidential race and in the battle for control of the Senate.
The outreach, which will be coordinated through a new “super PAC” called Immigrant Voters Win PAC, will be more explicitly political and partisan than past efforts, the strategists said: The goal was to not only turn out committed Latinos already voting Democratic but also find and persuade immigrant swing voters. Ultimately, organizers hope to get at least 400,000 new Democratic voters to the polls in November.
“This is really taking the gloves off,” said Cristóbal Alex, the president of the Latino Victory Project, one of several national pro-immigration or Hispanic-oriented groups working with the super PAC. “From the first day he attacked us, he called us rapists and thieves,” Mr. Alex said of Mr. Trump. “We could have a giant wall built and millions of families broken apart. The country is on the precipice.”
This has been long overdue and is good news fro Democrats this fall. I wish they had enough money to also spread this effort to Texas and Arizona (for the long term) and also North Carolina and Georgia (for the medium term) but this a great way to channel anger at Trump in a positive direction. Latinos lag other ethnic groups in both citizenship rates after 5 years of residency and voting participation rates. Hopefully the rise of a truly openly xenophobic candidate for President will do for Latino voting rates across the US what Pete Wilson did for them in California.
(Sorry I can’t figure out how to resize charts)
State |
Total Population |
Eligible Voter Population |
Latino Population |
Latino Eligible Voter Population |
Share Latino among Total Population |
Share Latino among Eligible Voters |
Share of Latino population eligible to vote |
Incumbent Senator in Seat up for Election |
Total U.S. |
318,857,000 |
224,963,000 |
55,251,000 |
25,486,000 |
17.3% |
11.3% |
46.1% |
|
Alabama |
4,849,000 |
3,649,000 |
190,000 |
67,000 |
3.9% |
1.8% |
35.0% |
Richard Shelby (R) |
Alaska |
737,000 |
529,000 |
49,000 |
29,000 |
6.7% |
5.4% |
58.2% |
Lisa Murkowski (R) |
Arizona |
6,731,000 |
4,604,000 |
2,056,000 |
992,000 |
30.5% |
21.5% |
48.2% |
John McCain (R) |
Arkansas |
2,966,000 |
2,167,000 |
205,000 |
60,000 |
6.9% |
2.7% |
29.0% |
John Boozman (R) |
California |
38,803,000 |
24,686,000 |
14,991,000 |
6,919,000 |
38.6% |
28.0% |
46.2% |
Barbara Boxer* (D) |
Colorado |
5,356,000 |
3,818,000 |
1,136,000 |
555,000 |
21.2% |
14.5% |
48.9% |
Michael Bennet (D) |
Connecticut |
3,597,000 |
2,590,000 |
540,000 |
280,000 |
15.0% |
10.8% |
51.8% |
Richard Blumenthal (D) |
Delaware |
936,000 |
693,000 |
83,000 |
40,000 |
8.9% |
5.8% |
48.6% |
-- |
District of Columbia |
659,000 |
494,000 |
68,000 |
27,000 |
10.4% |
5.5% |
39.5% |
-- |
Florida |
19,893,000 |
14,157,000 |
4,790,000 |
2,557,000 |
24.1% |
18.1% |
53.4% |
Marco Rubio* (R) |
Georgia |
10,097,000 |
7,075,000 |
923,000 |
291,000 |
9.1% |
4.1% |
31.5% |
Johnny Isakson (R) |
Hawaii |
1,420,000 |
1,022,000 |
142,000 |
85,000 |
10.0% |
8.3% |
59.9% |
Brian Schatz (D) |
Idaho |
1,634,000 |
1,144,000 |
198,000 |
80,000 |
12.1% |
7.0% |
40.5% |
Mike Crapo (R) |
Illinois |
12,881,000 |
9,089,000 |
2,153,000 |
951,000 |
16.7% |
10.5% |
44.2% |
Mark Kirk (R) |
Indiana |
6,597,000 |
4,839,000 |
426,000 |
167,000 |
6.5% |
3.4% |
39.2% |
Daniel Coats* (R) |
Iowa |
3,107,000 |
2,299,000 |
171,000 |
67,000 |
5.5% |
2.9% |
39.3% |
Chuck Grassley (R) |
Kansas |
2,904,000 |
2,066,000 |
329,000 |
125,000 |
11.3% |
6.0% |
38.0% |
Jerry Moran (R) |
Kentucky |
4,413,000 |
3,310,000 |
145,000 |
49,000 |
3.3% |
1.5% |
33.6% |
Rand Paul (R) |
Louisiana |
4,650,000 |
3,434,000 |
222,000 |
99,000 |
4.8% |
2.9% |
44.7% |
David Vitter* (R) |
Maine |
1,330,000 |
1,052,000 |
20,000 |
12,000 |
1.5% |
1.1% |
60.7% |
-- |
Maryland |
5,976,000 |
4,225,000 |
556,000 |
199,000 |
9.3% |
4.7% |
35.8% |
Barbara Mikulski* (D) |
Massachusetts |
6,745,000 |
4,898,000 |
729,000 |
372,000 |
10.8% |
7.6% |
51.0% |
-- |
Michigan |
9,910,000 |
7,421,000 |
477,000 |
231,000 |
4.8% |
3.1% |
48.5% |
-- |
Minnesota |
5,457,000 |
3,990,000 |
276,000 |
96,000 |
5.1% |
2.4% |
34.7% |
-- |
Mississippi |
2,994,000 |
2,226,000 |
80,000 |
31,000 |
2.7% |
1.4% |
38.6% |
-- |
Missouri |
6,064,000 |
4,562,000 |
232,000 |
107,000 |
3.8% |
2.3% |
46.1% |
Roy Blunt (R) |
Montana |
1,024,000 |
788,000 |
35,000 |
19,000 |
3.4% |
2.4% |
54.9% |
-- |
Nebraska |
1,882,000 |
1,346,000 |
190,000 |
69,000 |
10.1% |
5.1% |
36.2% |
-- |
Nevada |
2,839,000 |
1,905,000 |
789,000 |
328,000 |
27.8% |
17.2% |
41.6% |
Harry Reid* (D) |
New Hampshire |
1,327,000 |
1,027,000 |
42,000 |
22,000 |
3.2% |
2.2% |
52.6% |
Kelly Ayotte (R) |
New Jersey |
8,938,000 |
6,114,000 |
1,730,000 |
831,000 |
19.4% |
13.6% |
48.0% |
-- |
New Mexico |
2,086,000 |
1,465,000 |
994,000 |
591,000 |
47.7% |
40.4% |
59.5% |
-- |
New York |
19,746,000 |
13,654,000 |
3,668,000 |
1,882,000 |
18.6% |
13.8% |
51.3% |
Charles Schumer (D) |
North Carolina |
9,944,000 |
7,201,000 |
890,000 |
248,000 |
9.0% |
3.4% |
27.8% |
Richard Burr (R) |
North Dakota |
739,000 |
559,000 |
21,000 |
11,000 |
2.8% |
2.0% |
54.3% |
John Hoeven (R) |
Ohio |
11,594,000 |
8,743,000 |
395,000 |
199,000 |
3.4% |
2.3% |
50.4% |
Rob Portman (R) |
Oklahoma |
3,878,000 |
2,793,000 |
378,000 |
138,000 |
9.8% |
4.9% |
36.4% |
James Lankford (R) |
Oregon |
3,970,000 |
2,902,000 |
496,000 |
187,000 |
12.5% |
6.4% |
37.7% |
Ron Wyden (D) |
Pennsylvania |
12,787,000 |
9,746,000 |
834,000 |
440,000 |
6.5% |
4.5% |
52.8% |
Pat Toomey (R) |
Rhode Island |
1,055,000 |
782,000 |
148,000 |
68,000 |
14.0% |
8.6% |
45.6% |
-- |
South Carolina |
4,832,000 |
3,623,000 |
258,000 |
88,000 |
5.3% |
2.4% |
34.1% |
Tim Scott (R) |
South Dakota |
853,000 |
632,000 |
29,000 |
15,000 |
3.4% |
2.4% |
51.9% |
John Thune (R) |
Tennessee |
6,549,000 |
4,870,000 |
322,000 |
92,000 |
4.9% |
1.9% |
28.5% |
-- |
Texas |
26,957,000 |
17,169,000 |
10,405,000 |
4,818,000 |
38.6% |
28.1% |
46.3% |
-- |
Utah |
2,943,000 |
1,897,000 |
397,000 |
147,000 |
13.5% |
7.8% |
37.1% |
Mike Lee (R) |
Vermont |
627,000 |
493,000 |
11,000 |
7,000 |
1.7% |
1.4% |
61.9% |
Patrick Leahy (D) |
Virginia |
8,326,000 |
5,993,000 |
732,000 |
277,000 |
8.8% |
4.6% |
37.8% |
-- |
Washington |
7,062,000 |
5,007,000 |
858,000 |
334,000 |
12.2% |
6.7% |
38.9% |
Patty Murray (D) |
West Virginia |
1,850,000 |
1,456,000 |
25,000 |
13,000 |
1.3% |
0.9% |
54.3% |
-- |
Wisconsin |
5,758,000 |
4,326,000 |
370,000 |
156,000 |
6.4% |
3.6% |
42.2% |
Ron Johnson (R) |
Wyoming |
584,000 |
433,000 |
57,000 |
28,000 |
9.8% |
6.5% |
49.2% |
-- |