Last week, the Harris presidential campaign announced the launching of a WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters, hoping to minimize the glut of misinformation so pervasive on the platform.
That’s a good move because very little attention has been given to Latino voters, who represent a decisive factor in the turnout; the Harris team needs only to recall the 2020 election, where Latinos delivered a 20% margin for Biden (59% for Biden and 39% for Trump) in swing states. Those numbers are sure to be altered since Biden is no longer a candidate, nor is Robert F Kennedy, Jr.
According to Harris campaign officials, the channel is the first of its kind, particularly set to be unveiled with a bilingual selfie-style video, featuring Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, the Harris campaign manager. It will inform viewers of the latest news and developments by the team as well as behind-the-scenes activity by the campaign.
The channel will be run by Latino staff members in the campaign, with daily voice memos, videos, and notes featuring surrogates and supporters. It will also serve as a tool to combat misinformation and disinformation, officials said.
More than half of the U.S. Hispanic population is estimated to use WhatsApp regularly, the campaign noted. It allows users to send text messages and make phone calls free over the internet, and has long beaten out other social media sites, including Instagram and Facebook, in popularity across Latin America.
All of this arrives in perfect timing with a report that the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC) is asking the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to open an investigation into a series of raids conducted on Latino voting activists and political operatives as part of an alleged voter fraud inquiry by Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general.
On Monday, at a news conference outside the attorney general’s office in San Antonio, LULAC announced they were filing a civil rights complaint with the DOJ. State Senator Roland Gutierrez said he was requesting a state senate investigation into the raids.
“You don’t go after our grandmothers,” said Domingo Garcia, a LULAC leader.
This fresh initiative should shore up votes for Harris/Walz in the battleground states.
The team should give some attention to the Asian-American vote as well, since the turnout there has been increasingly vital.
In effect, all American votes count, and it’s good to see some significant moves by the Harris/Walz team to corral citizens who are often marginalized and neglected.