Republican chair to California Latinos: It’s time to make our voices heard | Opinion

As the first Latina, woman and millennial chair of the California Republican Party, I have had the incredible privilege of serving our state and community in ways I never imagined when I first began my political journey.

But the most meaningful part of my work has always been in empowering voices — including those in our Latino community — so that we can drive the change we want to see in our lives, our state and our country.

When I was first elected in 2019, it was a tough time to be a California Republican. We had just lost several members of our U.S. House delegation and were the third-largest political group in California, behind Democrats and no party preference. If we wanted to grow our party and start winning again, we were not going to do it by only talking to ourselves.

California is blessed to be filled with rich, complex and diverse cultures and communities, but the Republican Party has not always done a great job of being a part of them. California is home to more Latino and Hispanic-eligible voters than any state in the nation, and starting in 2019, diverse community engagement quickly became an essential effort of the CAGOP and our candidates.

California Latinos have built their lives in our state, started businesses, bought homes, and pursued the American Dream. But for many, that ideal is slipping away. High gas prices, skyrocketing inflation, rising crime — these are not simply numbers on a chart. They are realities that Latino families face every day. For too long, we have been told to accept it. We have been promised solutions, but those promises remain unfulfilled. Enough is enough.

California Republicans are not interested in simply offering lip service to the Latino community. We are showing up and fighting for them.

We are running candidates who are deeply ingrained in the communities they seek to serve and understand the issues that matter most to them — from congressman Mike Garcia in Los Angeles County to Reps. David Valadao and John Duarte in the San Joaquin Valley. And it’s working. In all, we picked up five U.S. House seats over back-to-back election cycles, including two seats where a majority of voters are Latinos.

Good candidates, however, are rarely enough to win if you aren’t connecting with voters as well. California Republicans are showing up in Latino neighborhoods and communities where we may never have ventured before to start conversations about our party and what Republicans stand for, taking no vote for granted.

In partnership with the Republican National Committee, we opened three Latino community centers in targeted congressional districts that are unlike typical field offices. They focus on building relationships within the Latino community and host activities like Spanish-language phone banks, civic lessons, potlucks and roundtable conversations.

We are recruiting and training volunteers within the community, registering voters, doing Spanish-language voter contacts, creating Spanish-language campaign content, and making sure California Latinos know that the Republican Party shares their values and wants to help make their lives better.

I’m proud of our accomplishments, but I know we are just getting started. The challenges we face today, thanks to the failures of Democrats in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. — from economic hardship to the homeless crisis, crime and failing schools — require all of us to come together and support candidates who offer common-sense solutions to our everyday issues.

The Latino community has a critical role to play in this fight. We are the backbone of this state and America. We work hard, we build, we contribute, and we deserve leaders who understand our struggles, who will fight for us and who will deliver results.

We can be the reason that Republicans keep and grow the House majority and have victories up and down the ballot in California, pushing our state and nation in the right direction once again.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a reminder of all that our community has accomplished and given to this great state and nation, thanks to our resilience, strength and integrity. But I know our brightest days are still to come.

This election is our time to stand up. Let’s make our voices heard. Let’s fight for our families, our communities, and our future. Together, we can reject the status quo and chart a new path that leads to opportunity, prosperity and a better tomorrow.