With Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) as the campaign co-chairman, it was probably assumed Vice President Kamala Harris would have a lock in the Latino vote in her bid for the presidency.
That assumption proved false Tuesday when the Democratic nominee did not get the votes as expected.
So it was no surprise when CNN anchor Jake Tapper took Garcia to task Thursday, asking, “How did you personally get it so wrong,” Mediaite reported.
Tapper asked Garcia about Harris doing poorly with Latino men.
“I mean, look, this obviously was a rough night for us nationally as it relates to the presidency,” Garcia said. “I think it’s a challenge. It is one that we have to work on, the Democrats have to engage in. We have to be on the ground, we have to listen.”
Tapper then grilled Garcia on a personal level, asking, “I guess my question is, how did you personally get it so wrong? There’s a Latina producer on my staff from Los Angeles who has been seeing this phenomenon of folk in her community moving right for years. I don’t think she was surprised. I know she wasn’t surprised by what happened. You were. So, how did you get it so wrong?”
Garcia appeared to have a clear-cut answer to Tapper’s query.
“I was,” Garcia said. “I mean, look, we were looking at a lot of the same data. A lot of data across the country, data state-by-state. I personally talked to numerous community groups across the country, in Nevada, Arizona, met with groups of Latino men and undecided voters.”
Garcia pointed out Harris won the “Latino vote overall.”
“Look, she still won, obviously, Latinos overwhelmingly. She won the Latino vote overall, but there is a lot of work to do with Latino men, and I think that’s something we as Democrats have to engage in,” Garcia said. “I think particularly for those of us that are Latinos, those of us that are immigrants like myself, who came to this country, who worked hard, whose family worked hard in search of a better life.”
He added there is more work to be done to let voters know what the Democratic Party is all about.
“I think there’s a lot of work to do to ensure that we communicate to folks the Democratic Party is the party of working people, is the party that supports immigrants, is the party that supports the social safety net,” Garcia said.
MSNBC host Joy Reid rebuked Latinos Thursday who voted for President-elect Donald Trump,
“You own everything that happens to your mixed-status families and to your wives, sisters, and abuelas from here on in,” she said.
