The following is a pitch I initially wrote to my editor:
Latinos Are Slipping Through Democrats’ Hands. The First Midwestern Latina Congresswoman Thinks She Has Solutions.
Dek: Delia Ramirez rejects that traditional Latino values are inherently conservative. Her suggestion to fellow Democrats is doubling down on progressive promises.
What’s surprising about Ramirez’s primary win is that she ran against a moderate Democrat and won by 41 points and got more margins in the suburbs than in the city. Delia Ramirez is branding herself as a foil to Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas in her narrative and what she stands for. She connects closely with her voters with her story as a child of religious working-class immigrants and a wife of a DACA recipient. On the other hand, her voting records as an Illinois State representative and her campaign platform are very progressive: Medicare for all, comprehensive immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, rent assistant and affordable housing.
Ramirez’s is worth doing a POI for two reasons. First, she represents a young, urban Latino population’s rapid shift toward progressive politics. Latinos on average are the youngest racial or ethnic group in the US, and their leftward shift is pushing politics further to the left in many big cities. Eighteen out of 50 Chicago City Council aldermen are members of the progressive caucus, nine of which are of Latino descent. All but one DSA alderman (there are 6 of them) are Latinos.
Second, the strategies she used to lure in older, previously disengaged Latino voters to the polling booth may provide much-needed lessons to Democrats nationwide who are pressed for solutions to retain the crucial Latino voting bloc. Ramirez is relatively muted on cultural war issues and says Democrats should push harder on issues like immigration and affordable housing & healthcare to convince disenchanted Latino voters back into the Democratic coalition. Despite being a progressive, she campaigned on the traditional values of God, family, education and hard work. Ramirez’s story might be a Democratic rebuttal to the claim that traditional Latino values are inherently conservative.
In the upcoming weeks, I would like to go to Chicago, attend her campaign events and witness her interactions with her constituents, and write a POI detailing her life and her strategy / vision as a Latina progressive.
