On last election day, conversations with the family confirmed Suzette Martinez Valladares’ prediction that Latino Republicans were about to shock California.
“I swear when they were 20, they’re socialists,” the Acton-based state senator said of her relatives when she had lunch at a restaurant in Santa Ana. Ta. “But after that [one of them] I sent you a photo of the vote. [Donald] Playing cards. “What’s going on here? I didn’t expect to see this day. ”
Varadales’ rights were a companion to GOP Latina Kate Sanchez, a MP for the district that stretches from Mission Viejo to Temecula.
“He can’t afford a house and is frustrated,” continued Baradales of her family. “And I think a lot of Latino voters felt the same way, so I think it’s a big opening for Republicans in the state. And what we want to make sure we’re jumping on is the beginning of the shift. I think so.”
The two are founders and co-chairs of the new Hispanic Legislative Caucus in California, the latest attempt by the official group of Latino Republicans at the State Capitol. It was formed in response to the 51-year-old Latin Legislative Caucus, a Sacramento powerhouse that has never recognized GOP members.
“When you’re not welcome at the table, you learn to make your own,” Sanchez said. “So I think it was a blessing. When I was re-elected [last year]we were like, “The timing is now, we’re doing it.” ”
Kamala Harris has won the state at hand, but some of his 2020 Trump’s biggest profits have been in Latin cities in Central Valley and LA County cities like Downey and Huntington Park . Varadales, who previously served as a member of Congress, won an Open Senate seat. Meanwhile, Jeff Gonzalez and Leticia Castillo recorded chaos in the Inland Imperial Congress race with the Latin Democrats, supported by the region’s longtime political machinery.
These victories pushed the number of Latin GOP lawmakers in Sacramento to nine. Latinos currently account for almost a third of Sacramento GOP lawmakers. This is a scenario that was once unthinkable in a state where the party turned off Latino voters for generations by pursuing a massive amount of xenophobia measures in the 1990s. This is a legacy that Sanchez and Baradales freely allow their enemies to cast on them.
“I think the Republicans probably missed many of these opportunities,” Sanchez said. “But we’re going to do a great job.”
“I think we’ve done a lot of work over the last decade,” added Baradales (44), who has a sharp tongue and more Plains Plains than her co-chair. “And those seeds we planted are growing now.”
The Hispanic GOP Caucus is formed when Democrats still hold the supermajority in both state legislative rooms, but Republicans are sourcing everything, even hints of multiculturalism nationwide . Despite this, I’m sure they both have something to do with it.
“Sacramento doesn’t know how to read a room,” Baradales said. “My race was thought to be very close. I was preparing to win by five votes instead of five points.”
“I want to say the elephant in the room,” Sanchez added. Trump has been a “severe problem” with Latino voters, but “it’s not that many more.”
Then at the Legislative Conference held at the Capitol in 2022, followed by Suzette Martinez Valladares.
(Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
Of the two, Sanchez conducted a more general conservative upbringing, growing up in Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo before attending a small Catholic university in Rhode Island.
After working at a conservative think tank and on staff for Republican US Rep. Darrell Issa, Sanchez competed in a rally seat against then-Temecra Mayor Matt Lahn in 2022. He first finished in the primary as a founding favourite and had a significant cash advantage in the general election.
“I didn’t fit the mold of how the party was and what I thought I could see,” Italian and Mexican Sanchez said with a smile. “Telling Latina is the worst thing to do.”
She wore three pairs of walking shoes to win a wealthy district with Latinos making up 22% of the population, and gave her victory a “proof of needs, momentum and for having Hispanic women.” “Momentum and openness.” In the 2024 election, she shattered Democratic opponents by 23% points.
Varadales grew up in Silmer. Sylmer was the “most conservative” member of a working-class family whose father’s Mexican-American side leaned to the right, and his maternal Puerto Rican relative was “very progressive.”
A morning drive to Sylmer High with her uncle introduced her to Rush Limbaugh. She didn’t thank her when she insisted that she should register as a Democrat because she was a Latina.
“I was represented by Democrats at all levels, from city councils to county supervisors,” Valladales said. “On Sundays, my park is closed due to gangsters. I remember when I was in 11th grade I had a lot of friends who had kids. So I thought, “We’re totally in power.” If you are represented by Democrats who have it, why is my community still struggling?
In the alternative universe, Baradales nevertheless, for the past 30 years, Latinos have been able to occupy Latinos at political offices at all levels, from the Board of Education to the US Senate seats, from the US Senate seats occupied by Alex, from the Regional Latin It may have been part of the legendary San Fernando Valley political machinery that placed the system. Padilla.
Pioneering Valley politician Cindy Montañes began a friendship that lasted until Montañes’ death in 2023, helping Baradales with her university entrance essay. Additionally, he represented the Pacoima region of the Congress for 12 years.
She described Cardenas as “a great man” and felt that the 2001 race was a “sad loss.” But her experience with the Democratic campaign only solidified her choice to register as a Republican.
“They didn’t feel they were dealing with the financial problems of small business owners like my father,” Valadales said. “I feel like in my younger life I gave every opportunity to convince me that they support me, and they didn’t.”
I asked them both what California Latino Democrats haven’t got about the political moment for Latinos right now.
“There’s a hyperfocus in immigration,” said Sanchez, whose first husband was once undocumented. “Hispanics are more of California’s fabric than that one issue, and if that one issue is the only thing we’re focusing on, I think it’s harmful to everyone.”
Orange County council member Kate Sanchez was associated with the second term in November.
(Gustavo Arerano/Los Angeles Times)
I pointed out that Latinx Legislative Caucus members would argue they worked on behalf of all working-class Californians.
Baradales again raised her trumper relatives. Last summer, Gavin Newsom Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a legislative bill covered by a state program that allowed California residents to apply for $150,000 on interest-free loans.
“[The relative] The senators were furious at the bill.” “He wants to buy a house. If so, is this? That’s probably what made him vote for Trump.”
Sanchez and Baradales support Trump’s call for deportation, which he described the latter as “the worst, the worst,” but said it wasn’t a full-scale deportation of all unauthorized immigrants. They want to see immigration reform, but they argue that it is a federal issue. What’s more, they point to Latinos who talk to them to care more about the “kitchen table” issue.
This is an argument supported by years of polls revealing that immigration is more important to Latinos than Democrats and immigration advocacy groups believe in the public. And the hostility towards illegal immigrants of Latinos in California is higher than it has been in decades.
“It’s their wedge problem. It’s their emotional,” Baradales said of the Democrats. “And when you don’t have a voice that appears to be giving us a different perspective or opinion, or policy revision, they control it.”
She let the beat pass. “They’re used to owning that space. They don’t have it anymore.”
“You said that well!” Sanchez said.
The Hispanic Legislative Caucus has not yet met, but the two have already planned. Varadales invites the pioneers of the Latinos GOP to members of Honor. Former Gov. Abel Maldonado and Rod Pacheco became the first Latino Republicans to be elected to Sacramento for a century, winning seats in the Inland Imperial Congress in the 1990s.
Sanchez outlines a legislative package focusing on what Latinos say they voted in 2024 as “delegates on affordable prices, security and excellent education.”
The two say they want to ensure that everyone can participate in the Caucus regardless of their political affiliation. But they also made the bench to ensure that Latino Republicans win local elections, create benches and maintain their presence in Sacramento for the next few years, instead of the ridiculed anomaly I want to create it.
“We’re going to defend an issue that California Hispanics know they care about,” Sanchez said when I asked Latino voters to reach conclusions.
Baradales directed her thoughts of closing at the Latino legislative meetings towards their insanity.
“Our Caucus is here to tackle these important issues on behalf of Californians,” she said. “We’re going to do that with or without you.”
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