Yesli Vega, a Hispanic and the newly selected Republican nominee to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, says she is frustrated over efforts by the Democratic Party to pander to the Hispanic community and insists Democrats have “lost touch” with voters seeking change.
Vega, a longtime law enforcement officer in the state, spoke to Fox News Digital Wednesday, the day after her primary victory, about her mission heading into the general election and why she believes Hispanics are beginning to side with some ideas being offered by Republican candidates in several races across the country.
“You have a Democrat Party that has completely lost touch with the Hispanic community,” Vega said.
Learn More about Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega’s campaign in the Virginia 7th Congressional District by going to her website: https://yeslivega.com
Shifts in the demographics of the two parties’ supporters — taking place before our eyes — are arguably the biggest political story of our time.
The big picture: Republicans are becoming more working class and a little more multiracial. Democrats are becoming more elite and a little more white.
Why it matters: Democrats’ hopes for retaining power rest on nonwhite voters remaining a reliable part of the party’s coalition. Democrats’ theory of the case collapses if Republicans make even incremental gains with those voters.
- Even small inroads with Hispanic voters could tip a number of Democratic-held swing seats to the GOP.
What the data show: Democrats are statistically tied with Republicans among Hispanics on the generic congressional ballot, according to a New York Times-Siena College poll out this week. Dems held a 47-point edge with Hispanics during the 2018 midterms.
- An NBC News poll in April found Democrats held a 38-point lead among women with college degrees — up from 10 points from 2010. Democrats lost ground with nearly every other demographic group tested in the survey.
- Nearly every House pickup in the 2020 election came from a woman or non-white challenger. The GOP’s ability to win back a House majority this year rests on the success of candidates breaking the party’s typical mold.
What’s happening: Democratic strategists say the party’s biggest vulnerability is assuming that the priorities of progressive activists are the same as those of working-class voters.
- Progressive activists led the push to cut police budgets. Communities of color have borne the brunt of higher crime.
- Hispanics living on the U.S.-Mexico border are more likely to favor tougher border security measures that Republicans have championed.
- The recall of liberal school board members and a district attorney in San Francisco was fueled by disillusioned Asian-American Democrats.
HELOTES, Texas—Last spring, having just retired from Congress, Will Hurd was feeling adrift. He had agreed to write a book, telling his remarkable life story and diagnosing a malfunctioning political system, all while teasing out a run for the presidency in 2024, but Hurd struggled with an underlying anxiety. For the first time in his adult life, the guy who’d climbed so quickly—from college class president to star CIA operative to lone Black Republican in the House—didn’t know his next move. Finally, Hurd sat down with his nearly 90-year-old father and shared his concerns.
“William, I can’t give any advice on what you should do, because I don’t understand any of these things,” Bob Hurd told his youngest son. “But I know what you shouldn’t do. Don’t be desperate. Because when you’re desperate, you make bad decisions.”
The former congressman tells me this story on the back patio of El Chaparral restaurant, one of his favorite haunts, in suburban San Antonio. We’re drinking Ranch Water—tequila and lime juice over ice, with a splash of mineral seltzer—and comparing notes on his book, American Reboot, which splices together riveting tales that help illuminate his views of a Republican Party that’s rotting from the top down. But the book doesn’t contain the story about this father-son talk. Rather, the anecdote surfaces organically when I ask Hurd about his brutal indictment of the GOP and how that has changed his relationships with the likes of Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik, party leaders whom he once considered close personal friends. READ MORE
By Tim Alberta | The Atlantic
(Image credit: LeAnn Mueller | Image/article Link: Here)
