2020 president ial election and the latino vote. No question that 2020 will be a year of intersecting crises in the midst of a pandemic and the most consequential election in a lifetime. More americans voted in the 2020 election than any other in modern history with 65 of eligible voters casting a valid and for the first time in our countrys history latinos were the largest ethnic minority in the electorate with 32 million eligible voters for record numbers of latinos turning out the vote, highest numbers of latino and latino youth in the previous election cycle. Donald trump and president elect joe biden benefited from higher turnout of latino voters across the us yet the support they received from this diverse and complex electorate buried in different parts of the country. The majority of latinos lean democratic when it comes to faith levels there are differences that cannot be so easily counted on by either party. Todays conversation will highlight have record levels of latino turnout impacted the outcome of key races and included key battleground states. We are thrilled and acclaimed journalists interested voice in the Latino Community will moderate todays panel, they will explore critical nuances among latino voters, the issues we care most about and which Campaign Messages resonated with these constituencies and why. As we transition to a new administration and her new year it is important to focus on Lessons Learned and to know that our vote cannot be taken for granted. It requires authentic connection and investment and we want to be forwardlooking and included in this national agenda. I want to give special thanks to ucla and the Aspen Institute and the Cocacola Company and wells fargo for making this possible. My pleasure to introduce dear friend of one of todays sponsors, the seor Vice President of external relations at wells fargo. Before joining wells fargo in 2019, president and ceo of n diego chamber of commerce focusing on training and electing latino candidates for public office, as Deputy Assistant to the president and director of White House Intergovernmental Affairs for george w. Bush. Please give a warm welcome to ruben more alice. Thank you so much f having us here. Proud that wells fargo could be sponsor, looking forward to the in formation a as former latino elected official self, great pride to see more latinos and latinas being elected to office which is part of a growing latino population that is increing. We hear from our professionals in terms of what is happening with the lato vote. Wells fargo is a leaning lender to hispanic families, home mortgages, small busesses, latino economic power is tied to political power ilatino communities, we are interested in what is happening and be part of helping the Latino Community as it grows and reaches its fu tear in the United States of america. I congratulate you and your new role as theatino in Society Program and recognize the others who are helping out in that efforts as well and it is a plsure for me on behalf of wells fargo to interview our moderator this afternoon, the moderator is recognized by the New York Times as the voice of hispanic america and you will probably recognize her. Shis a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. My pleasure to introduce maria. Thank you. Hello to everyone. Good afternoon. If you are joining us in the west coast, thank you for joining us for this vital discussion as we assess the impact of the latino vote in the 2020 election. I asked the ceo a story that i did on the latino vote right before the election, if he thought the sleeping in science would finally wake up and he answered bluntly i hate the reference of the sleeping giant, they havent been sleeping, what latinos want to be engaged in the process that ignores, i wont be asking that question again but for anyone who Still Believes in that reference latinos in 2020 showed up and made a difference. How they voted and why is a subject we continue to analyze for the coming months. Some facts, facts, joe biden, Kamala Harris as Vice President elect, more americans voted in 2020 elections and in any other election in more than 100 years. Fact. 2020 saw the highest voter turnout for latinos in history. Another factor. Latino voters made a difference in the outcome of the election in several states. Facts. Latinos are not monolithic. And fact. Donald trump made inroads with latino voters in his bid to win the election. Let me introduce our distinct analysts. The chairman of the Democratic National committee, the first latino to hold that position, and the secretary under obama. Joining us, the Lincoln Project, former political director for the California Republican party, the republican political strategist for the latino voting sensor and analysis. The political campaign, professor of political, cofounder of the latino position. For idaho, 30 of the voting district in washington, native american, i want to remind those who are joining in this conversation, the last few minutes. The first one. Free time they need to know the natives numbers after an election, how many came out to vote in 2020. It is great to be with everyone today. The coverage you mentioned on cbs, such a strong the latino electorate. The data has not been certified and publicly recorded in every single state. In many states it has been or many counties it hasnt been. The first headline we take from this election is one of the facts, i looked at some historic data. In 2004, not long ago, 7. 5 million latino votes, estimating 16 million, 16 million, doubled the latino vote in less than 20 years. Cannot be said for the overall american electorate, this was a big turnout. The latino vote overdoubled, the trajectory is going to continue. Our population is very young, it is growing. And and and and and many as 10 million, the turnout was really historic. That is one of the most important of this election, that very high number of latino votes. This question for all of you. Did anything this election surprise you . I was especially, in arizona involving in this litigation, leading the civil rights division. When you look at what happened in arizona in 2020, dramatic increase in latino voter turnout, 660,000 latinos turned out in arizona in 2020, 460,000 in 2016 and remember joe biden won by 12,000 votes in arizona. When i look at battleground states you really see so many battleground states make a difference. Roughly 100,000 voted and won 71 so estate where we won 20,000 votes, what was heartening to me, in 2016 we were regularly polling in three battleground states, doing a ton of work in ten states reflecting the fact that the denominator experience, in january, latinos, or illegible voters in georgia looking at margins of dictators moving up that is the important thing. The percentage of vote, a bigger denominator needs a bigger margin. The one to punish. Places like miamidade county, as much as we like to. Having said that, reading reports that we lost florida that latino voters in miamidade county, in 2012, barack obama, still would have lost the state by 450,000 votes, totally unrelated to us. Orlando and the puerto rican vote, doing work in miamidade. This is election a ball. The audio is difficult. The question remains the same. The surprises are twofold in the past 25 or 30 year trajectory. You cant deny that. Donald trump had stronger numbers than anybody anticipated and we have to recognize what is happening in the community. For a host of reasons. Most importantly, theres regional variation. And on the field prospective the trend line is different in arizona and california largely because of the process we are talking about, very strong markers in places like california and arizona, essentially a block of voters, 27 standard for gop report in texas. Florida is a unique dynamic. It is not an apples to apples comparison. Part of the fun of this is new States Latino votes are taking. And in many ways, similar patterns watch the vote mature, second or third generation, completely unique way to watch america change and changing the contour of culture. We are not monolithic. Until recent election cycle, and this is not your grandfathers voting block. For the Political Landscape years ago. What is your take . May be it is pricing. A privilege to be here with all of you. In idaho we expected at least on a personal note the hope and expectation for a blue wave and when that happened in the past a district like mine, in 2018 Medicaid Expansion past by 60 , 16 out of 19 counties voted in support of it. When it comes to Kitchen Table issues that resonates with people. It is what the Democratic Party is all about. In Rural America and suburban america where hispanic communities are at the forefront of growth, the largest population helping grow Rural Communities we are seeing a lot of struggles when it comes to the Democratic Partys message connecting with people that was a surprise. We had progress. A hispanic Higher Education institution, college of western idaho board of directors changeover, and that is progress, some messaging, and having young latino, his dad too, no more about the campaign and when they learned there is a democrat why are you pushing to give anything away for free i had to explain that is not where we are coming from. We are painted with a broad brush doesnt represent what we are about. To most of america, what we already know. And also diverse city, more geographical and it varies depending on country of origin, a latino in florida is not interested in the same issue, the same thing goes. The same messaging with that diverse city. They are directly on point, in 2016, didnt have the capacity, in florida, and in 2016 by hillary clinton, in puerto rico, we didnt have that capacity. Now we do because i understood it is indispensable. Conversations with puerto rican voters in florida were very different in many respects to conversations we had to cubanAmerican Voters. When we were sending mail to voters we understood there were some overlap, the pandemic savaged everyone across the country, there are specific issues, Latino Community, one of the things we did very differently in the 2020 cycle we had those conversations somebody mentioned texas. What is interesting about texas when you dig into the data, we did remarkably well with latino voters in urban areas, off the charts, really good numbers. In the Rio Grande Valley a different story where we didnt do as well. When we talk about this, even in the same ethnicity sometimes the rural urban side is another dimension we need to understand moving forward. Those are two examples of doing things differently and that helps to connect with voters but we still know, somebody in this conversation, it is a big issue especially in south florida. The misinformation infrastructure was very very robust and it didnt just start in 2018. It started in 2020. It has been around for many years and it is a formidable infrastructure to address. I know that you are the number side, the Biden Campaign, what numbers, what issues, what did you find, what were they and the campaign, to address the issues that concern voters in these different locations . Building on what tom just laid out it is important to try to understand the Latino Community, the electorate. We are all latino and we have things in common but we also have diversity in our politics and that is okay and i think for a long time for the better part of the 21stcentury campaigns have really had to microtarget and understand different segments, suburban women, noncollegeeducated men, young hipster portland types. Whatever it is they have been segmenting the white community. On the Biden Campaign, very large samplings and Community Driven research and outreach. It doesnt mean we dont have opportunities to grow and to do better but we turned the corner in understanding is that, having large samples to segment young usborn firsttime voters as compared to third or fourth generation latinos in arizona, mexicanamericans who had been there for 100 years or longer. We took that approach this year. We need to keep doing that, need to keep understanding those differences within the Latino Community so that we can more effectively communicate with someone who is third or fourth generation and has a different sort of view than one whose family has only been here 25 years and that is it. I want to encourage everyone to keep that up and when you do that you will understand there is commonality even between cubans, venezuelans, Puerto Ricans and mexicans. Our politics are unique. Our politics at the end of the day, your Opening Statement i can almost hear those exact words. Latinos want to be engaged as latinos but also as americans and when you do that you will make inroads so i think the Biden Campaign is on the right track and will continue going in that direction but there are other groups like the group that was targeting latinos that maybe consider themselves a little bit more centrist or conservative and we need to continue those outreach efforts from both parties and talk to those folks and understand what makes them tick and how to make them feel engaged. I want to ask about the Lincoln Project and followup with the messaging. In some parts of texas there are some inroads donald trump made, there were inroads. I know you were not supporting donald trump about what was it about his campaign, his message, his persona that resonated with voters . That is a great question and it is a good segue, articulated it very well, leading the forefront on segmenting the latino vote in a way that had never been looked at before. That is very important, when talking about sampling with key demographics, there are variations but what is driving that politicization has to be done going forward. It is no longer something you might have the luxury of a campaign in the past. Being so diverse, the segmentation is very important which technically what we identify as a trumpy sort of vote tends to be usborn hispanic largely 40 and under usborn hispanic male under 40. The reason we call them trumpy is they are responding to a lot of the same messaging white noncollegeeducated males were responding to. It is a fascinating look. Latinos i like we will have none of this nonsense but the good news is they were is what we call stick. We can move them back with some messaging, more cultural message but there was some economic messaging but for whatever reason was compelling them to vote on issues that were not dissimilar from noncollege voters because of the deplorable trump base. You could say should we be surprised by that . Usborn hispanic males with a college debris with the same economic concerns, consuming the same media, behaving the same way. The other is a strong economic appeal, very important part. I would suggest Donald Trumps economic message, something that was compelling about it. The other question, how much of the cultural indicators to drive quite successfully. Is there a limit to that, do we need to expand not just looking at the vote model but talking about issues strongly associated with latino politicization but broadened to this economic messaging that ultimately the definitive element of latino politicization, succinctly, i believe the Majority Party in the next 20 years will be the one that captures the economic aspirations of a multicultural middleclass. The Republican Party has a significant problem with that because they are not interested in multicultural anything. The Democratic Party needs to refine its economic messages. They are way ahead of where the republicans are but there is only so much leakage you could prevent. It will diverse if i diversify. Democrats with 2 or 3 points but but it is growing so fast you are not losing anything. More appropriate way to look at it is republicans are losing the second largest segment of the electorate by 25, 70, 30 and that is the deathknell. The Lincoln Project, describe and explain what the objective was for those who still dont know . The Lincoln Project was a group of eight republican, former Political Consultants recognize a year ago this month the republican establishment failed the country protecting the constitution of the United States, so complicit, such a cult of personality behind a demagogue, rise of authoritarianism in the country so we decided to do what we do best which is run the campaign, this started as you are aware before the impeachment began, before every republican us senator holding up the constitutional oath to protect the country to see evidence of malfeasance, the objective was to bring the best talent to make sure donald trump would be to the democratic nominee whoever that was an honor to be part of the coalition of a successful effort. You oppose donald trump but not necessarily republican candidate. We are opposed to most of the Senate Candidates, the only candidates we would support above based on constitutional principles we view the Republican Party as a threat to the american experi