Republican Hispanic lawmakers had a groundbreaking year in Tuesday’s congressional elections, picking up two governor posts while holding onto a US Senate seat and adding several congressional seats.
In South Carolina, the first black Republican was elected to Congress from the Deep South since the 1800s, and the nation’s first Indian-American woman was elected governor.
“Color is becoming less of an issue,” said Richard Ivory, a black Republican political consultant. “There was a time when the white electorate saw race first and made judgments based on this alone.”
With Democratic losses, there was likely to be only a small net gain of Latinos in Congress. Florida’s Marco Rubio will join the Senate’s lone Hispanic member, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez.
“Hispanic Republican candidates rode the Republican tidal wave. It was coast to coast. The only place they didn’t seem to win was the Pacific Ocean,” said Arturo Vargas, head of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, referring to California, where Democrats held strong.
In New Mexico, Susana Martinez was elected as the nation’s first female Hispanic governor. Nevada voters elected Brian Sandoval as that state’s first Hispanic governor.
On the congressional side, Jamie Herrera will become the first Latino congressman from Washington state, while Raul Labrador will be the first from Idaho. House Democrats were defeated by Latino Republicans such as Francisco Canseco, who beat Ciro Rodriguez, an 11-year House veteran. Also in Florida, state representative David Rivera beat Democrat Joe Garcia to grab an open House seat.
In Alabama, Democrat Terri Sewell became the first black woman elected to Congress from that state and in Louisiana, Democrat Cedric Richardson unseated Republican Joseph Cao.
In South Carolina, Nikki Haley was elected governor, becoming the second Indian-American to win a gubernatorial race. She is also that state’s first female governor.
African-American Republicans also made significant gains.
Fourteen black Republicans were on House ballots nationwide, almost double the number in 2008. Tim Scott will be the first black Republican to represent South Carolina in the US House since Reconstruction, and Allen West will be Florida’s first black Republican in Congress since the 1870s.
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