With polls suggesting Hispanic voters are moving away from Democratic candidates in this year's midterm elections, and with a record turnout of South Texas' Hispanics in the state's Republican primary last week, The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) has gone on the offensive, launching its first Spanish-language ad campaign in five states.
The committee, which works to elect Republicans to state legislatures, placed the 30-second ad as part of a five-figure digital buy in Texas, Florida, and Arizona – where it is working to defend the legislative chambers – and in Nevada and Colorado, where it aims to flip the chambers from blue to red.
The commercial titled “Respetan” (which is Spanish for “to respect”) accuses Democrats of taking Hispanic voters for granted. “Hispanic voters want good paying jobs, affordable goods, safe communities, and a quality education for their children,” RSLC President Dee Duncan tells The Hill.com. “And the RSLC will keep deploying innovative voter contact tactics like this to remind them that those are all products of Republican leadership in the states.”
The spot represents the GOP's most recent effort to attract more Hispanic voters, following the National Republican Congressional Committee's recruitment of more than 100 Hispanic candidates in this cycle, and the Republican National Committee's just-launched initiative to help immigrants prepare for the naturalization test. According to a recent New York Times-Siena College poll, the GOP is closing the gap, with 38% of Hispanics saying they prefer Republican candidates in the midterms, vs. 41% for Democrats.