Axios House: Democrats make Harris’s case to Latino voters

CHICAGO – Democratic leaders emphasized their commitment to address top issues to Latino voters, such as economic opportunity, child care and immigration at an Axios House event on Tuesday held alongside the Democratic National Convention.

Why it matters: The Latino voter population is growing rapidly, making them a vital voter bloc for both parties.

• Axios House hosted multiple events over two days at the DNC. This event focused on the power of Latino voters and was in partnership with Noticias Telemundo.

The Democratic party isn't taking any vote "for granted," said Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar.

• "I have always heard from Latinos that many of them feel taken for granted, like the assumption is they'll vote in the Democratic primary and they'll vote for a Democrat." "We are not making assumptions. We are not taking the community for granted and we're doing a lot of listening and engaging."

California Sen. Alex Padilla praised Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' handling of immigration, saying she was "pivotal" to addressing the issue.

• "The numbers are way down, lower than at any point under the Biden administration and lower than they were at the end of the Trump administration," Padilla said.

Meanwhile, Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, who's running for a Senate seat against Republican Kari Lake and an open U.S. senate seat, expressed how Democrats offer Latinos the American dream rather than the Republican party.

• "The people that wanna start businesses, wanna be able to send their kids to college, they wanna live this part of the American dream."

• "What I see coming from the Republican party and in particular, from my opponent Kari Lake, they're not offering solutions, they're just offering more division. They're just telling you who to hate and not what to do and what you're going to do."

Harris recently released an economic plan where she proposed a $6,000 tax credit per child for the first year, which former DNC Chair Tom Perez highlighted as one of the issues Harris is tackling to push the American dream.

• "She has a very aggressive proposal for childcare…We know how to reduce poverty in this country. Why do I say that with such confidence? Because we did it in 2021, we reduced childhood poverty by 40%."