CHICAGO – Latino lawmakers and organizers stressed Wednesday that their voting bloc is key to securing swing states for Democrats in November. Earlier, Harris’ campaign team launched a bilingual WhatsApp channel to reach Latino voters.

“The Latino vote is going to be the deciding factor in this election,” said actress and Democratic surrogate Eva Longoria during a meeting of the Hispanic Caucus on the third day of the Democratic National Convention.

Members of Congress and representatives of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign told delegates how they plan to reach out to Latino voters, including by launching a bilingual WhatsApp channel.

“The channel will be the first of its kind in an American presidential election and will feature culturally relevant content that reflects the Latino community already on the platform and serves as another tool to combat misinformation and disinformation,” the Harris campaign said in a press release.

A popular messaging tool among immigrants and Latinos, WhatsApp is a free, encrypted messaging app that can be used worldwide.

According to a report by the Pew Research Center, about a quarter of all Americans use WhatsApp, but 46 percent of Hispanics do so, compared to 23 percent of blacks and 16 percent of whites.

Julie Chavez Rodríguez, manager of Harris’ campaign team, opened the launch of the WhatsApp campaign with a video message, noting that the channel would offer a “behind-the-scenes” look at the campaign as well as information about Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

The station is operated by “Latinos con Harris-Walz”.

Michelle Villegas, the national director of Latino engagement for the Harris campaign, said Latino votes were key to victory in three swing states – Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

“These are places where Latino voters are going to help us win and narrow the gap in this election,” Villegas said.

Villegas said the campaign will also launch bilingual phone calls and local organizations, as well as several coalitions such as Latino Men for Kamala.

According to a recent New York Times poll, former President Donald Trump made some progress among Latino voters, particularly men.

“This is the first time there’s been a WhatsApp channel for a presidential campaign in the United States,” Villegas said. “It’s huge. It’s super exciting and super important because we know that Latinos communicate on WhatsApp.”

The app, which is a dominant source of communication, is also rife with misinformation. Longoria pointed out that Democrats need to be careful of this, especially when the misinformation and disinformation is written in Spanish.

“Our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters are targets of misinformation and we need to help them,” she said.

Longoria, who has close ties to the Biden administration, said she would also reach out to Latino voters via WhatsApp.

Last year, the White House hosted a screening of the film “Flamin Hot,” Longoria’s directorial debut. The film tells the legendary origin story of “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” a popular snack in the Latino community. The Los Angeles Times debunked the story, but it’s still a popular rags-to-riches tale.

Longoria added that Democrats need to talk about issues important to the Latino community, such as the economy and inflation.

“We have so much work to do,” Longoria said. “I think one of the big problems for Latinos is that people think it’s always about immigration, and that’s important, but the economic argument is something that I don’t think we articulate well enough to our Latino brothers and sisters.”

Harris’ deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, Sergio Gonzales, said Latino voters are critical.

“We will not take any Latino vote for granted,” he said, adding that Harris also comes from a state with a large Latino population – California.

Polls among Latino voters

Equis Research, a company that specializes in research and polls specifically targeting Latino voters, found in a recent poll that Harris is ahead of Trump with 56 percent of the vote among registered Hispanic voters, compared to 37 percent.

The poll found that Harris has also gained support among Latina women compared to when Biden was still in the race before he dropped out last month. For example, Biden was at 50% support among Latina women and Harris had about 59% support among Latinas.

“With the arrival of Kamala Harris, we are seeing results that are back in the historically normal range,” says an analysis of the poll. “Compared to Biden, she is experiencing recoveries across all Latino subgroups, with the largest ones being seen among young people.”

However, the report found that in swing states like Arizona, Harris “still lags a few percentage points behind what Biden received in 2020.”

The executive director of the political organization Voto Latino, María Teresa Kumar, said the group is conducting voter registration drives for Latinos in the states of Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.

No action by Congress

Democratic U.S. Representatives Greg Casar of Texas and Delia Ramirez of Illinois said the Biden administration has continued to influence immigration reform even without Congressional involvement, including the recent introduction of deportation protections for undocumented spouses.

Immigration reform is virtually dead in a divided Congress. A bipartisan border security measure drafted in the Senate failed after Trump objected to it because he wanted to use the immigration issue to campaign.

Instead, most immigration reforms have come from the White House in the form of legislation, such as expanding access to health care for the uninsured under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the recent executive action for spouses of undocumented U.S. citizens.

The deportation protection for those married to a U.S. citizen is a one-time measure that is expected to enable approximately 500,000 undocumented spouses and their children to apply for legal permanent residency – a green card – under certain conditions.

Ramirez, whose husband is a DACA recipient, said immigrants and Latinos are “tired of waiting for immigration reform.” She said it’s an issue Harris should campaign on because immigrants bring economic benefits.

The Congressional Budget Office projects an economic boom next year due to immigrants’ contributions, reducing budget deficits by $990 billion and increasing federal revenues by $1.2 trillion between 2024 and 2034.

“A daughter of immigrants is running for our president,” Ramirez said of Harris’ parents – her father is a Jamaican immigrant and her late mother was an Indian immigrant. “This is our chance to lean on the contributions of immigrants.”