Tequila Party Kicks Off In Arizona

By Lourdes Medrano

Tucson, Arizona — In 2010, Arizona produced the nation’s toughest immigration law. This year, lawmakers pushed – but failed – to overturn birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, the largest school district in Tucson is mired in turmoil over a state ban on ethnic studies. In the eyes of Belinda “DeeDee” Garcia Blase, Arizona is in the midst of “a culture crisis.”

So it was only fitting that the fledgling National Tequila Party Movement, an effort she leads to mobilize Latino voters in the 2012 election, made its debut in Arizona. Frustrated by both parties’ leaders, members of the Tequila Party have adopted a nonpartisan stance as they seek to register large numbers of new Latino voters through rallies, dinners and concerts.

About a month after announcing the endeavor in Phoenix, the Tequila Party headed south over the weekend to host its first rally. The event in downtown Tucson featured mariachis and Aztec dancers in a historic restaurant courtyard. Various speakers urged a modest crowd to flex its political muscle in next year’s primary and general elections. A makeshift polling place beckoned would-be voters to register.

“This is our shot for change,” Tequila Party President Garcia Blase told the crowd.

In later remarks, she scoffed at criticism that the movement’s name reinforces stereotypes and encourages drinking, insisting that linking the Mexico-made Tequila to the movement is symbolic because Mexican-Americans are the largest segment of the Latino population.

“This is not about pushing Tequila. This is about pushing a get-out-the-vote,” said Garcia Blase, also the leader of the advocacy group Somos Republicans. With both parties lagging on issues important to Latinos, it’s time to unify the nation’s fastest-growing minority to maximize political influence in those areas, including immigration reform, Garcia Blase added.

Mickie Soza, who was at the rally with her husband, Hector, thinks any effort that encourages Latinos to vote is a good thing.

“It’s a huge bloc of power,” said Mickie Soza, a Republican. Her husband, a seventh-generation Tucsonan, is a Democrat who said the relatively low turnout among Latino voters is disappointing.

The number of Latinos eligible to vote rose to 21 million in 2010 from 13 million in 2000. But just 31% of Latinos voted in the recent midterm elections, compared with nearly 49% of whites and 44% of African-Americans, according to a Pew Hispanic Center survey.

Lourdes Medrano writes about the people and places on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border. Follow her on Twitter at @_LourdesMedrano