Hillary Clinton on taking Latino voters seriously

Aiugust 5, 2016.

NAHJ/NABJ UNITY Congference

Lori Montenegro

Does the Democratic party, does your campaign take Latino voters seriously or are you talking them for granted that they would automatically vote democratic?

Hillary Clinton

I take them seriously because I’ve had the great privilege of working for many years with Latino leaders, activists, business men and women.

Just as I responded to the question, my first experience working on behalf of Latinos was, well actually, even before I was a legal services lawyer, through my church, I babysat Latino kids on Saturdays while their parents and older siblings went to the fields outside of my home in Chicago, which used to be, hard to believe now, miles of farmland.

It was my first real lesson in how much more we all have in common. There I was 11 or 12 years-old, babysitting these little kids, and at the end of the day the old ramshackle bus stopped at the end of the road and the parents and the older brothers and sisters got out and these little kids just broke loose and started running down that road with their arms outstretched calling for their mother and their fathers and getting swept up in very tired arms.

And then when I was a little bit older my church arranged exchanges with Latino churches, we would go into the city of Chicago, sit in church basements, talk about our lives and again it reinforced what to me was so much of a common sense of, you know, what we wanted in our lives even though their lives and mine were very different.

And as a legal services lawyer, as the chair of the legal services corporation, we expanded legal services into places against a lot of political opposition. So I feel very fortunate that I’ve had the chance to work with and learn from so many Latinas and Latinos across America.

When I ran for the Senate I worked closely with our elected representatives, city, state and national level. I was honored that they rallied around to support me and were part of the great victory that we had in the primary in New York, so no I don’t take any voter for granted and I particularly don’t take any voter who is placing their trust and confidenc3e in me for granted. Because I am going to get up, as I said, every single day and work my heart out to get the results that I have told you we’re going to achieve together.

And I know it’s hard, I’ve been around, as you all know very well, I’m not new to this. It doesn’t happen by hoping it happens or wishing it happens, it happens by doing everything you possibly can and I am blessed to have such close working relationships and friendships with Latino leaders.

Tonight at my House we will be having a big event with Latino business leaders coming from around America. And so, I’m going to do what I’ve always done. You see, I think at the core of political leadership is relationship. You’ve got to build relationships with individuals and communities. I know that doesn’t happen by just asking for it. It happens because you work hard to achieve it.

So I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that any Latino voter who votes for me knows that I’m going to be doing my best to deliver on everything that I’ve said.

And I will tell you as we go along what the challenges are because I may need to ask your help. I may need you to put pressure on elected officials; I may need you to flood the internet or flood the old fashioned, you know, mail box of elected representatives so they know people are watching. But that’s how we’re going to get it done and I’m actually pretty confident and optimistic about that. So I hope that people will take this election seriously because I sure take you seriously and together I think we can create the kind of future that every one of our kids and grandkids deserves.\

Thank you all very much.