La Mesa Boricua:
Talking Points Memo

Puerto Rican candidates and their allies, had a string of electoral victories last month that extended across the state. Central Florida remained a power base. But victories in Southwest and South Florida showed the impact we can have is growing.

Among others, Eliseo Santana won the Democratic primary for Pinellas County Sheriff and Marcos Lopez won the Democratic primary for Osceola County Sheriff. They are poised to become the first Latino sheriffs in Florida history. Alexandria Ayala, who won a seat on the non-partisan Palm Beach School Board, became the first Hispanic ever elected to that body and one of the first Latina elected officials in that county’s history. An ally of our community, Monique Worrell, beat out three opponents in a bid to take the State Attorney’s office in Orlando in a decisively progressive path.

Another strong ally, incumbent commissioner Peggy Choudry, battled two other Democrats and retained her seat in Osceola County. Boricua Emily Bonilla retained her non-partisan seat in Orange County. Former state representative Amy Mercado solidified a new career as a county property appraiser in Orange.

No notable Puerto Rican candidates won any Republican primaries. There are, however, other Puerto Rican candidates who ran unopposed in both Democratic and Republican Party primaries and will face the voters in November.

Talking points:

• “We are building power because our time is now.”
• “Decisive wins against entrenched, Establishment and incumbent candidates demonstrate we are able to build electoral coalitions and challenge the status quo. While the best is yet to come, we are at a level of political maturity in Florida way beyond what we could have dreamed of attaining a decade ago.”
• “Countywide victories across various parts of the state show Puerto Rican candidates, and those who support our agenda, are no longer relegated to gerrymandered or provincial Puerto Rican-majority seats.”

A federal court in Boston ruled the long-held Congressional practice of providing lesser welfare benefits to the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico is unconstitutional. If it stands further appeals, the decision would bring parity to those on the island receiving supplemental Social Security income, food stamps, and healthcare subsidies.

Legal observers had seen the possibility of the court ruling in this manner as a long shot. It is likely the decision, and ongoing litigation, will ignite questions about Puerto Rico’s political status, and perhaps even the citizenship rights of those born on the island.

Talking points:

• “This decision is an overdue recognition of Puerto Rican’s status as second-class citizens, which pervades our political relationships.”
• “There is a historic relationship between racism and differential treatment. Because of the unique moment, we are living through, the courts are more likely to see that.”
• “This is not an issue about Puerto Rico as a territory but about Puerto Ricans as people. Denying citizens who reside in one part of the United States participation in common social programs, even ones they have contributed to and that others have access to, is discrimination pure and simple.”

Puerto Rican candidates and their allies, had a string of electoral victories last month that extended across the state. Central Florida remained a power base. But victories in Southwest and South Florida showed the impact we can have is growing.

Among others, Eliseo Santana won the Democratic primary for Pinellas County Sheriff and Marcos Lopez won the Democratic primary for Osceola County Sheriff. They are poised to become the first Latino sheriffs in Florida history. Alexandria Ayala, who won a seat on the non-partisan Palm Beach School Board, became the first Hispanic ever elected to that body and one of the first Latina elected officials in that county’s history. An ally of our community, Monique Worrell, beat out three opponents in a bid to take the State Attorney’s office in Orlando in a decisively progressive path.

Another strong ally, incumbent commissioner Peggy Choudry, battled two other Democrats and retained her seat in Osceola County. Boricua Emily Bonilla retained her non-partisan seat in Orange County. Former state representative Amy Mercado solidified a new career as a county property appraiser in Orange.

No notable Puerto Rican candidates won any Republican primaries. There are, however, other Puerto Rican candidates who ran unopposed in both Democratic and Republican Party primaries and will face the voters in November.

Talking points:

• “We are building power because our time is now.”
• “Decisive wins against entrenched, Establishment and incumbent candidates demonstrate we are able to build electoral coalitions and challenge the status quo. While the best is yet to come, we are at a level of political maturity in Florida way beyond what we could have dreamed of attaining a decade ago.”
• “Countywide victories across various parts of the state show Puerto Rican candidates, and those who support our agenda, are no longer relegated to gerrymandered or provincial Puerto Rican-majority seats.”

Elected officials and non-profit groups in Orange County, where the Census is lagging in response rates, are sounding the alarm and asking for a concerted push to complete the decennial count.

La Mesa — and affiliated groups such as Latino Justice PRLEDF, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and Del Ambiente —  have been messaging on this issue for months, addressing not just the language barrier that leads to lower response rates, but thorny questions about racial identification and legal marriage status that also affect our communities.

Here is an event held earlier this year to address many of these issues.

Talking Points:

• “Time is running out. The Trump administration has done everything possible to shorten the count, in spite of pandemic concerns, which will negatively impact our communities the most.”
• “We must tackle this issue in our communities and local governments, as the federal government clearly has no interest in having a fair count.”
• “Identifying ourselves properly, in terms of ethnicity, is vital to visibility and power.”

A Miami and Los Angeles-based chef is taking the spotlight for her principled stand against using Goya products, after deeply offensive comments by the CEO of that company last month prompted calls for boycotts. Other celebrity chefs in Miami, including chef Jose Andres, have also joined calls against Goya.

Several member organizations of La Mesa have been messaging on this issue successfully. Calls for a boycott of Goya have been successful enough to merit a White House brushback.

Talking points:

• “Praise for an administration that daily supports racist, deadly policies against Latinos is a betrayal by Goya of its customer base.”
• “This is not the first time Goya decides to play hard-ball politics with our community. In 2017, they pulled out as a sponsor of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York over political differences. Goya decided to put its brand in jeopardy by playing politics against the interests of its consumers. They brought this on themselves.”
• “We are the ones who made Goya’s owners wealthy enough to share the stage with U.S. presidents. Our voice and values matter.”

Latinos nationally back the Black Lives Matter movement.

But perhaps that is nowhere more poignant than in the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. With a significant number of Puerto Ricans living in that community and an active legislative caucus in the state House that deals with “Black and Puerto Rican” issues.

Talking Points:

• “Tu lucha es mi lucha. The struggle for equality and survival in a racist justice system is a lived experience for both Black and Latino communities.”
• “Efforts will be made to divide us along ethnic and national origin lines. We cannot let that happen.”
• “The fact conversations around healthcare, workers’ rights, policing and immigration are colliding is not a fluke. This is the natural result of oppressed people joining together in the struggle.”