Connecticut Democrats Exclude Latinos from Statewide Races

Lack of Latinos on Statewide

Ballot Raises Concerns

Among Some Democrats

By Daniela Altimari dnaltimari@courant.com

Hartford Courant (March 31, 2018)

Eva Bermudez Zimmerman looks at the slate of Democrats running for statewide office this year and notices a striking absence.

“I don’t think it’s right that 30 percent of our population [consists of] people of color yet our ticket doesn’t reflect that,” said Zimmerman, a union organizer who lives in Newtown and recently opened an exploratory committee for a possible run for statewide office. “Twenty percent of our population is Latino, but we’ve never had a Latino leader elected statewide.”

The 2018 midterm elections would seem uniquely calibrated to change that. President Trump’s immigration policies, his sharp rhetoric about building a wall on the Mexican border and his actions regarding Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria have energized Hispanics voters and turned many of them away from the Republican party.

In Connecticut, Latinos long have been a key part of the Democratic base. Yet the community continues to lack clout within the party, said Rep. Christopher Rosario of Bridgeport, the chairman of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. He points to the lack of Latino candidates as proof.

“We feel like the political mistress of the Democratic party,” Rosario said. “They come to us, they get our votes, they get our delegates then they get into office and they don’t call us back.”

Rosario added: “The Democratic party in Connecticut, if they don’t adapt, they will go by the wayside.”

Several Democrats noted a discrepancy between their party and the Republicans, whose slate includes Art Linares, a Cuban-American running for state treasurer.

Connecticut Democratic Chairman Nick Balletto rejected the notion that the party has been less than hospitable to Latino candidates.

“We are a big-tent party and we are open to everybody and anybody who wants to run for office,” Balletto said.

Balletto said he spent much of last summer meeting with potential candidates, including black and Hispanic politicians who were considering running for statewide office. But, ultimately, those he met with opted against running for a variety of reasons, he said.

Still, Balletto said he is proud of the diversity of the Democratic contenders running for office this year in Conneticut.

“This is honestly the most diverse slate we’ve ever seen,” Balletto said, citing several Asian-American politicians competing for statewide seats this cycle as well as state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, a gay man who is running for reelection.

But some Latinos are pressing for Democrats for greater inclusion, noting that contenders for the party’s gubernatorial nomination are all non-Hispanic whites.

Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, a longtime political activist from New Haven and the chairwoman of the Connecticut Hispanic Democratic Caucus, recently wrote to local party leaders urging them to appoint Latinos to serve as delegates to the state convention in May. (Delegates play a key role in choosing the party’s nominees.)

“We ask the delegation reflect the diversity of your city in relation to the Latino community,” Rodrigues-Reyes wrote in a March 15 letter to town committees across the state. “We need to feel we are no longer the stepchild of the Democratic party and that we will no longer be taken for granted.”

Charles Venator-Santiago, a political scientist at the University of Connecticut, said Latinos face several hurdles in their quest for greater political representation.

“Latino candidates have been successful in enclaves but at a statewide level, it’s not clear to me that they can mobilize enough votes to win,” said Venator-Santiago, who also holds an appointment at UConn’s Institute for Latino/a, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies.

In Connecticut, he said, the Latino population is concentrated in 15 or 20 communities, which makes it difficult for leaders to develop a statewide profile.

Moreover, Latinos tend to have lower turnout rates than whites and African Americans, Venator-Santiago said. “Until Latinos are organized enough to turn out and vote, my guess is that the Democratic party is not going to take them as seriously as they could,” he said.

State Rep. Edwin Vargas of Hartford said having a Latino candidate on the statewide ticket would galvanize voters and likely boost turnout.

“Every community needs a reason to vote and Latinos have … supported the Democratic party in huge numbers,” Vargas said. “But, like everything else, to really stimulate people, it’s great to have one of your own on that statewide ticket. I believe if Democrats are smart enough at the convention to nominate a Latino for one of the top positions for statewide office … that would be dynamite in terms of mobilizing our base.”

Vargas said he hopes Eva Bermudez Zimmerman will emerge as a top contender for lieutenant governor.

“I believe she could solidify that coalition that the Democrats are going to need,” Vargas said. “I believe it would benefit the ticket to have a Latina on the ticket but it would require people to recognize the value of that.”

At 30, Zimmerman is already well-known in political circles. She served as secretary of the state Democratic party and was a member of the Newtown legislative council, the town’s governing body. She grew up in Hartford and, as a child, was among the plaintiffs in the Sheff vs. O’Neill school desegregation lawsuit.

Zimmerman initially formed her committee with an eye toward running for secretary of the state, where she would face Democrat Denise Merrill, who has held the seat since 2011.

But Zimmerman said she is open to considering other posts. “At the end of the day, what it comes down to is making sure the Democratic party puts their best foot forward,” she said.

Zimmerman, whose union job focuses on child-care workers, said could not stay on the sidelines this year.

“The politicians who are getting involved don’t represent the world I represent,” she said. “The people who live that reality have a different perspective…and that changes the conversation in the room.”