As I look back on the November 2022 midterm elections, I am reminded of one of my favorite scriptures in the Holy Bible; as Jesus looked, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two tiny copper coins. “Truly, I tell you, He said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.” Mark 12
Latino voters, particularly younger voters, can be counted in the election day or election vote week totals that favored Democrats in the Gubernatorial, United States Senate, majority of the United States House of Representative races, and special Philadelphia City Council elections. The Latino vote, although numerically smaller than the broader Pennsylvania population, is a good analogy of the Pennsylvania Latino voter’s contribution to the Democratic Party Victory.
Pennsylvania Latino voters delivered a bloc of votes that put Democrats in the winning column. While communities across Pennsylvania can be credited with the solid Democratic Party victory, Latinos were also crucial; Latinos registered one of the highest voter turnouts in Pennsylvania.
Soon, the 2022 Pennsylvania midterms elections and Latinos in impoverished communities will again feel the ignoring of their needs, as they have in previous elections. Like Carlos Matos, an influential ward leader broke with Democratic City Committee in daring to cast his ward’s votes for John Fetterman for Senate; will Aleida Garcia, a vocal supporter, and one of the few Latinas who met with Attorney General Josh Shapiro around gun violence, be even recognized by Governor Josh Shapiro? Or, as a Latina mother of a daughter lost to homicide said, “Shapiro probably wouldn’t know her if he tripped over her. But Latinos will continue to grow their voting bloc, and more politicians will continue baiting Latinos with empty promises”.
