Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T10:18:50.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Electing Latinos in Non-Latino Majority Districts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2011

Jason P. Casellas
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
Get access

Summary

“But we are different from Latinos in places like Texas, Florida, and California because we are extremely new to the state. We do not have an established Latino middle class.”

– Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Boston)

What accounts for the election of Latinos to districts in which Latinos are not a majority? Are Latinos elected primarily in majority-African-American districts or majority-white districts? Are Latinos winning by appealing to the Latino pluralities in their districts and then adding the minimum number of non-Latino voters? Are Latinos defeating incumbents? If so, are they white or African-American incumbents? Are they winning in multicandidate primaries? Do Latinos with Anglo names appear to have an advantage? To what extent has each political party been responsible for the growing number of Latinos elected in non-Latino majority districts? To what extent have features of the electoral system contributed to more Latino victories in such districts? Now that Latinos have become the largest minority group in the United States, it is fitting to examine the conditions under which Latinos are elected to legislative bodies. In particular, this chapter seeks to explore the conditions under which Latinos are elected to non-Latino majority districts. I argue that although demographics play an important role in the election of Latino candidates, we must look beyond the obvious Latino majority districts that elect Latino legislators. The growing mainstreaming of Latinos in American society is already manifesting itself in the election of Latino legislators in areas where traditionally they are not likely to be elected.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×