California Latinos love Bernie Sanders. Will their votes propel a Super Tuesday win?

Jewel Hurtado first discovered Bernie Sanders when she ran across one of his campaign videos in 2016.

“I was instantly inspired,” said Hurtado, a self-described “Bernie Bro.” “In every issue of my life, whether it came down to health care, the LGBTQ+ community, being a person of color, being poor – I just felt heard and seen.”

Hurtado, then 17, couldn’t vote that year. But she quickly became one of Sanders’ most fervent supporters. Her admiration for the Vermont senator burned intensely, shifting her destiny and creating tension with her grandmother, a “die-hard” Hillary Clinton supporter.

In 2020, Hurtado’s all-in for Sanders. Her vote – along with the votes of most Latinos in California – may help deliver a resounding Super Tuesday victory to the man some call “Tío Bernie.”

Sanders’ strong Latino support vexes some political observers, but it’s no mystery to me. I voted for Bernie in 2016. Hillary’s victory seemed certain, but I wanted to honor Bernie’s unique voice with my primary vote.

Why? Because Bernie has zero chill. He’s the outraged truth-teller raining fire and brimstone on a political system owned by wealthy corporate interests. He’s what former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich calls a “countervailing force” – a balancing presence in the body politic.

As a seasoned politico, I considered his chances slim. But as a Central Valley Chicano descended from immigrant farmworkers, Bernie’s message resonated with me. In this horrific era of climate crisis and economic inequality, we need his righteous anger.

“He speaks to the heart of our needs,” said Hurtado. “He’s offering what some people think are these radical, crazy ideas. But to me … these are real solutions to the problems that we’re seeing.”

My 2016 vote was a low-stakes bet. In 2020, it’s different. A vote for Bernie is a wager with high stakes.

“He’s going to win,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant, of Sanders’ chances in California’s primary. “The question would be: by how much?”

Polls have consistently shown Sanders with a commanding lead in California, though former Vice President Joe Biden has gained ground since Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race.

Still, Sanders is drawing 53 percent of the Latino vote, according to a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Madrid said Sanders’ support mostly comes from younger Latinos. “Latinos 50 and older were divided closely between Sanders, Biden and Bloomberg,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s a generational divide,” said Madrid.

There’s also a gulf between Latino voters and Latino elected officials. Despite Sanders’ majority support, “not a single member of the powerful Latino Legislative Caucus has backed Sanders. Nor has any member of California’s Latino congressional delegation or any statewide elected official,” wrote Gustavo Arellano of the L.A. Times.

This makes sense. Sanders is, after all, running as a party outsider. Madrid likened Sanders’ populist appeal to that of Donald Trump, who won the GOP nomination by running against the Republican Party.

“He’s running against the Democratic Party,” Madrid said of Sanders.

That’s apparently just fine with pro-Bernie Latinos, whose support the Sanders campaign has prioritized. Early on, the campaign made it clear that “No other ethnic voting bloc is as important as Latinos,” wrote Jennifer Medina of the New York Times.

“Mr. Sanders may be a 78-year-old white senator from Vermont, the state with the lowest Latino population in the country, but many Latino voters see him as the candidate who best embodies their hopes,” wrote Medina.

If Sanders wins big in California, he will owe a debt of gratitude to Latinos. The prospect of his nomination terrifies moderate Democrats, but they may need to strap in for the ride. The Democratic Party has long salivated over the untapped power of Latino voters, but this “sleeping giant” has no appetite for bland incrementalism. The Tío Bernie effect demonstrates how Latino power may change American politics.

Madrid, the Republican, said it’s foolish to underestimate Sanders in a general election.

“The same people who were saying Trump can never win are saying Bernie could never win,” he said. “I’m not saying Bernie will win. I’m saying it’s entirely within the realm of possibility.”

Will the “socialist” label sink him? Not necessarily. Madrid noted that Republicans spent decades framing Nancy Pelosi as “the worst, left-wing socialist that ever walked on American soil.” In 2018, however, some conservative voters helped return the House speaker’s gavel to Pelosi.

“We know what he means,” said Hurtado, dismissing concerns about Sanders’ embrace of democratic socialism. “We see that he’s just fighting for basic human rights. Labels … don’t really matter.”

It’s not yet clear whether young Latinos’ faith in Bernie’s revolution will result in victory or heartbreak. The presidential race is often decided by less idealistic voters in swing states.

Hurtado remains optimistic — with good cause.

Inspired by Bernie, she got elected to the city council in her small Fresno County hometown of Kingsburg in 2018. Only 20 at the time, she beat an incumbent more than twice her age. Few saw her victory as possible. Some compare her to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, nicknaming her the “Valley’s AOC.”

And her grandmother, the 69-year-old Hillary fanatic who almost stopped speaking to her Bernie-loving granddaughter in 2016? She’s voting for Sanders in 2020.

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to reflect Joe Biden’s surge in the polls after Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race.

This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "California Latinos love Bernie Sanders. Will their votes propel a Super Tuesday win?."