GOP Better At Recruiting Latino Candidates Than Democrats

This is how it breaks down: the number of Latino Democratic politicos is down, the number of Republican Latino politicos is up. It’s not a hard calculus to understand. The Democrats are either doing something wrong, or the GOP is doing something right, say, fronting gobs and gobs of money to support Latino candidates? Where’s the Democrats’ response to that? NPR reported today:

But the ranks of Latino Democrats have thinned over the past five years, while their Republican counterparts have gained.

Since 2006, the number of Hispanic Democratic officeholders has shrunken by nearly 2 percent. Meanwhile, the number of Hispanic Republicans in office has increased 22.5 percent.

Hispanic Republican candidates have been especially successful in the kind of targeted, high-profile elections — for Congress and governor — that could influence the 2012 presidential contest. And in statewide offices, Republican Latinos now outnumber Democrats.

I personally would hate to be in politics — a decade as a journalist has taught me better than that — but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand how important it is that we are all represented in elected office. Latinos need to vote, just as they need to be elected, for the sake of the entire country. Unfortunately, a big part of how this happens is up to the political parties themselves, and how much money they pony up for campaigns.

So what do you think, is it about the money or shouldn’t it be? Would you vote for a Latino candidate based on party affiliation, or despite it?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD