Pennsylvania is headed to the polls in November with two major races at the top of the ballot: one to choose the next governor and another to fill an open U.S. Senate seat.
In Pennsylvania and around the country, this is the time when campaigns begin to engage Latino voters — usually in a last-ditch effort to curry favor with a group that often feels left out of the electoral process.
We reached out to the gubernatorial campaigns of Josh Shapiro and Doug Mastriano, as well as the Senate campaigns of Mehmet Oz and John Feterrman to learn more about whether and how they are connecting with Latino voters in Philadelphia and beyond.
Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic in Pa., but the latest UnidosUS survey of 300 households across the Commonwealth found that as of last August, more than half of registered Latino voters had not received any outreach about general elections. Specifically, 30% received information from Democrats, 15% from Republicans, and 13% from nonpartisan groups.
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The same poll found that voters of Latino heritage are more animated about issues like rising inflation, gun violence and public safety, racial justice and abortion — essentially the same as Pa voters. in general.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Look, we’re dealing with immigration and that’s the only thing we need to address,'” Jones-Correa, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies Latino voting behavior, told WHYY News and Billy Penn. This is not a concern that all people in Latino communities have, he noted.
Vanessa Graber is a director with Free Press and an organizer with Philly Boricuas, a nonpartisan grassroots group that mobilizes Philly Puerto Ricans to vote on policies that would benefit the island. She cautioned political campaigns against treating Latinos as a monolith.
“There are people from over 20 Latin American countries represented here in Philadelphia, and each community has its own unique needs and political perspective,” Graber said, pointing to the Puerto Rican sovereignty debate as an example. “Although there is a common language and some common culture, politically, we are very, very different.”
For Graber, this lack of real engagement is contributing to the disenchantment of voters in Northeast Philadelphia, where she believes that federal and state policy decisions are not helping their neighborhoods, where littering, crime and gentrification are on the rise. top of mind
“At least half the people we talked to while we were doing outreach … said ‘We’re not going to vote because nothing changes,'” Graber said. “I think candidates and political parties need to show progress to the people.”
How gubernatorial candidates are reaching Latino voters
Both Republican Mastriano and Democrat Shapiro have used public appearances to reach Latino voters, though Shapiro started earlier and has connected more often with the population.
In late September, Mastriano held his first public campaign event in Philadelphia. His campaign billed the event as Philadelphia’s first Hispanic town hall.
Organized by the Small Business Union, the event was met mostly with angry community members, Shapiro campaign surrogates and violent protests targeting his views on abortion rights among the issues. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the state senator focused more attention on crime. While some may see Mastriano’s visit as a viable effort to reach Latino voters, experts believe the strategy falls short of best practices — in terms of messaging and authenticity.
Neither Mastriano nor his campaign responded to a request for comment.
Shapiro’s campaign website has been available in Spanish since the day he launched his bid for governor in October 2021, according to spokesman Will Simons. The state attorney general made trips to Allentown and Reading — which have Pennsylvania’s largest concentration of Latino residents — during his first week on the campaign trail. (Mastriano has also visited Allentown, though he came later in his tour of the state.)
Over the summer, Shapiro made appearances in Philadelphia dedicated to speaking with Latino business owners and clergy.
“Our campaign has made significant investments to reach Latino voters where they are — at their doorsteps, online, on radio and in communities across Pennsylvania,” Simons said.
Shapiro’s campaign has spent over $500,000 on digital and radio ads targeting Latino voters, according to Simons. Additionally, Shapiro has made several appearances on La Mega’s “El Relajo de La Mañana,” a popular Spanish-language radio show broadcast from Reading.
Shapiro recently spoke at a CASA in Action rally in York — along with Pennsylvania Second Lady Gisele Fetterman and a Spanish interpreter — about investing in public education, safe neighborhoods and small businesses. He also talked about the things he said most about him – his family and his faith.
“No matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love or who you pray to, I want to be your governor,” Shapiro said. His words were met with cheers of “SĂ se puede” and “Yes we can”.
How Senate candidates are reaching Latino voters
In the race for the open US Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Fetterman may appear to have done more concrete outreach than Oz. However, Philly Boricua’s Graber said he’s not necessarily making the right kind.
Fetterman’s campaign cited the lieutenant governor’s appearance at Reading’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in September and his endorsements from CASA and CHC BOLD PAC, the fundraising arm for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as examples of his dedicated outreach.
Additionally, his campaign said his background as an advocate for a $15 minimum wage, labor unions, a “compassionate” immigration system and the codification of voting rights speaks to his support for the Latino community.
Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, who is Brazilian, has also been at the forefront of the campaign’s efforts to reach Latino voters. She has aired ads on Spanish radio and led a rally in June against the closing of the Pittsburgh immigration court along with the advocacy group Casa San Jose and representatives from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Without the court, thousands of families in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia were forced to travel to the second closest location in Philadelphia.
Jones-Correa, the political science professor at Penn, said Gisele Fetterman’s work on the Spanish language “probably helps” and “isn’t just symbolic.” But Graber said the campaign needs to go further to build relationships with voters.
“I think the work she’s doing is valuable, I just don’t think it’s enough,” Graber said. “A Brazilian woman from Western Pa. is not related at all.”
Graber also said she thinks Fetterman’s campaign is overstating his recognition and influence.
“I don’t think the average person in North Philadelphia knows who John Fetterman is,” Graber said, talking about the ingredients he works with. “I feel like he’s just building on the reach and the Democratic power that’s already there.”
The Fettermans plan to conduct a series of bilingual Latino radio calls, according to the campaign, where they will speak directly to people and urge people to vote on Election Day.
During Oz’s campaign, the celebrity doctor spent part of Hispanic Heritage Month in Allentown visiting Latino-owned businesses.
“Dr. Oz will fight for Hispanic families in the U.S. Senate, and he will work to implement solutions that will create a stronger, safer, and healthier Commonwealth for all,” campaign spokeswoman Brittany Yannick said. stressed that the Senate candidate has made it a priority to reach out to the Latino community.
In July, Oz visited Allentown to speak at the Hispanic Community Center, and in September, he visited Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood to speak with black and Latino business owners.
However, his engagement with Latino voters doesn’t have much of a digital footprint.
Graber said she hasn’t seen many Puerto Ricans enthusiastic about voting for Oz, other than people with deep ties to evangelical churches who might vote on a single issue: abortion.
Anti-abortion rhetoric has become a cornerstone of Oz’s platform. The Republican candidate has said he believes “life begins at conception” and supports the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, but will not support criminal penalties for patients who seek the procedure and the doctors who perform it.
