Election had mixed results for Hispanics

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

For Hispanics, Nevada's fastest-growing minority group, Tuesday's elections doled out a lot of bitter and a bit of sweet.

On the one hand, the ballot included a record of 17 Hispanic candidates. But only five won, with Democratic congressional candidate Dario Herrera -- the hope of national Hispanic organizations only months ago -- among the losers.

As a whole, Tuesday's elections didn't turn out the way many hoped for the Hispanic community. Instead, the hope of converting demographics to political clout remains elusive -- a sign, experts said, of the growing population's lack of experience working a campaign.

Larry Gonzalez, Washington office director for the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, a nonprofit, said the election's mixed results for Hispanics can be attributed to the growth itself in Southern Nevada's Hispanic population -- 240 percent from Census 1990 to Census 2000.

"It's an exciting state because of the growth, but it is still in its political infancy as far as Latinos go," he said.

Many observers thought the high numbers of Hispanic voters would translate to victories for Hispanic candidates, especially as Las Vegas beat out established urban areas such as Los Angeles in newly registered Hispanic voters, according to a nonprofit group's report released last week.

But despite the numbers, many Hispanic candidates faltered because they were newcomers to politics.

"There were a lot of first-time candidates, and we need to learn how to do this better," said Aldo Aguirre, who entered politics as a Board of Regents candidate in District 5 and lost with 42 percent of the vote.

Aguirre said his campaign ran out of money early, leaving him with 14,000 fliers. "I guess I'll use them for scrap paper," he said.

The first-time candidate also pointed to an issue echoed by veterans of the campaign trail -- the lack of support from both major parties for all but top-of-the-ticket Hispanic candidates such as Herrera and Republican Attorney General-elect Brian Sandoval.

"The Democrats and Republicans didn't invest in these candidates," said Andres Ramirez, a political consultant who worked in districts with high Hispanic populations.

Gonzalez said that more money had been spent on advertising in Spanish and currying the Hispanic vote than ever before nationwide -- $9 million -- but that the number was still small with total expenses running into the billions.

"It's clear that both parties have to spend more money and give people the tools to get the Hispanic vote," he said.

It will be unknown for several weeks what percentage of the valley's estimated 51,284 active registered Hispanics -- nearly 10 percent of the Clark County's total number -- actually made it to the polls.

"I think we're going to see that Hispanics had a good turnout in the election," said Charles McCarthy, director of Ethnic Data, a Las Vegas-based voter information clearinghouse.

Glen Arnodo, political director for the Culinary Union, which did its own "get out the vote" drive, said that turning the Hispanic vote into a more powerful force requires a comprehensive, long-term strategy that includes helping more of the valley's 300,000-plus Hispanics obtain citizenship.

"The number of registered Latinos is relatively insignificant compared to the overall picture right now," he said.

"The issue is how do we go well beyond the 50,000 registered voters, and make their voices heard?"

Beyond developing a wider base of voters, Gonzalez said a plan to develop what he called "grass-roots, community-based infrastructure" is needed. This would include developing local leadership and educating community members -- especially immigrants -- about the political process.

Surprisingly, despite nearly 60 percent of the valley's Hispanic voters being registered as Democrats, the election's only high-profile Hispanic winner -- Sandoval -- was a Republican.

The other Hispanic winners were incumbents: District Judge Valorie Vega, Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, and Clark County School Board member Larry Mason.

Sandoval's win may well be the biggest news for Hispanics statewide -- and an attention-getter nationwide -- as he became the only Hispanic in the nation to gain a state office for the Republicans, Gonzalez said.

"With Sandoval winning, he becomes the messenger for the national party, for President Bush to show that he cares about Hispanics," Gonzalez said.

The attorney general-elect said he had already had some feelers from the Bush administration about taking a role in representing the GOP to the Hispanic voter.

Sandoval said he would do so if asked, and said he is "fiercely proud" of his heritage.

"A lot of Hispanic voters said they supported me even though they were Democrats because I addressed issues that are important to the Hispanic community," he said.

But that didn't help many Hispanic candidates during the campaign. Several observers said these candidates rested on their heritage, and didn't do enough to ask for the vote.

"We know there was a response from Hispanic voters," Ramirez said. "But a lot of these Hispanics didn't necessarily vote for Hispanics -- they didn't know who the candidate was because the candidate didn't reach out to them."