New PAC launches to represent Latino voices in Minnesota
On Friday, COPAL announced the launch of Somos the Future, a political action committee (PAC).
Courtesy Somos the Future
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An interview with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will air Monday on La Mega radio, a station that reaches 200,000 Latino listeners. It comes after his campaign stop in the majority-Latino city of Allentown, Pa., on Saturday. It’s all part of an effort by the campaign to reach Latino voters during Hispanic Heritage Month.
Here in Minnesota, a new political action committee recently gave Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris its endorsement. Somos the Future is the political counterpart to COPAL — a group that led the push for undocumented immigrants to be able to get drivers licenses in Minnesota.
At a press conference announcing the launch of the new PAC, chair Carolina Ortiz listed several candidates the group is endorsing — all Democrats in the metro and southern Minnesota. Ortiz joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about their efforts.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: There is an interview with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that will air today on La Mega Radio. That's a station that reaches 200,000 Latino listeners. It comes after his campaign stop in the majority Latino city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, over the weekend.
It's all part of an effort by the campaign to reach Latino voters during Hispanic Heritage Month. Here in Minnesota, a new political action committee recently gave Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris its endorsement. Somos the Future is the political counterpart to COPAL-- a group that led the push for undocumented immigrants to be able to get driver's licenses in Minnesota.
At a news conference announcing the launch of the new PAC, chair, Carolina Ortiz listed several candidates the group is endorsing, all democrats in the metro and in southern Minnesota. Carolina Ortiz is on the line right now. Thanks for taking the time.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Hi. No, thank you for taking the time. I'm excited for this conversation.
CATHY WURZER: I'm pleased you have the time to talk with us. Thank you so much. As you know, Democrats have, for want of a better word, hemorrhaged support from Latino voters over the last 10 years or so. But there seems to be a bit of a change that the Harris campaign is making in courting Latino voters in states like Arizona and Nevada and Pennsylvania.
There's a recognition from the campaign that the Latino community is really diverse. And it seems like the Harris campaign is refining their message instead of treating Latinos like a monolith. What are your thoughts on that?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: I think that is completely spot on. I think the anti-immigrant agenda voiced by some of the extremist voices that we have been hearing put our most vulnerable community members directly at risk, which is why we're so excited to be launching this PAC to understand how we can really mobilize the power that we have in the Midwest.
CATHY WURZER: Can you paint a picture for us about the power of the Latino vote in the Midwest?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Yeah. So in the Midwest, we have over 6 million Latinos. We also know, and I know we also have this on our website, but it's projected that by 2060, one in every four Americans will be Latino. So we know that this is happening. We hear it from community members that they are already doing a lot of work on the ground. So we want to make sure that we get community members involved, participating, and mobilizing the voter work.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk some issues, if we could here. Earlier in the show, we had the results of that new MPR KARE11 Star Tribune poll that found almost half of Minnesotans said illegal immigration was a very serious problem. And I'm curious, how is your organization thinking about immigration during this election?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: That's a really great question. I think specifically, the PAC gives us the tools to build a counter narrative that celebrates our contributions, challenges, but also really pushes back on the disinformation that we have been hearing and advances policies that prioritize dignity, justice, and opportunity.
It's not just about responding to a text, but it's also about forging a better future with Latino voices lead in shaping the direction of this country. I remember that in past conversations, throughout the years, there's always been that narrative that Latinos in the Midwest, in Minnesota are not eligible to vote.
And throughout the work that we've been doing, we know that there are so many community members that are eligible to vote. And the ones that are not, many people like DACA, TPS recipients, are doing a lot of work in order to make sure that people are getting encouraged to get out to vote. So we know that there is power within communities, and that's what we're trying to uplift.
CATHY WURZER: You mentioned the disinformation around the immigration issue. And I'm wondering, some Latino activists on the left are a little frustrated by Vice President Harris's border rhetoric, some of it, and don't think she's defined clearly enough what she plans to do on immigration reform. Might that be a problem among some Latino voters?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: That might be a problem. And I think that's part of the work that we're trying to do is really have conversations with community members as far as what is important, what should we be working on or even said better? Through this process of endorsement, we've had multiple conversations with community members in the Midwest. And we have been hearing some of the issues that they're particularly most interested in working on.
And that has actually been part of the conversation with the folks that were looking for endorsements from Somos the Future. And part of that is understanding how that can be worked on coming directly from community members.
CATHY WURZER: Might we drill down a little bit deeper into how did you as a committee choose who to support? I mentioned you've endorsed several candidates for state house, and they're all Democrats.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Yes. So we put together a political action committee focused on, again, a mixture of different community members from the Midwest. And there was a round of interviews. So even though our PAC is endorsing all Democrats for right now, we did put the invitation out for Democrats and Republicans.
With the people that responded or the candidates that responded are the ones that we ended up having interviews with, and they're the ones that agreed to support the agenda, to support some of the efforts that they were hearing from the members that are part of this committee. And that's why we move forward with endorsements. But again, it has truly been led by members on the ground who are doing the work and who are ready to also continue to do the work.
CATHY WURZER: What's the plan? What's the battle plan between now and November 5 for you and your group?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: So we actually have a launch, what we call the Week of Action, starting on October 19. And part of that work is really understanding that our community loves music, loves food, loves coming together as community. So we're launching with a big celebration.
And part of that will be bringing a group called Los Jornaleros del Norte, who are workers in California, coming to support the work here. We will be inviting community members to come out, celebrate, and directly go door knocking after that. We'll also be doing phone banking.
So that is really the big launch of we call it the Week of Action, which is, again, acknowledging that we are a community that loves celebration, loves music, love food, coming together. And then that will continue to take us to the additional work that we have, which will again be a lot of more door knocking, phone banking, one-on-one conversations and more.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Carolina, thank you so very much for your time. We appreciate it.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Thank you for your time.
CATHY WURZER: Carolina Ortiz is chair of the political action committee Somos the Future.
It's all part of an effort by the campaign to reach Latino voters during Hispanic Heritage Month. Here in Minnesota, a new political action committee recently gave Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris its endorsement. Somos the Future is the political counterpart to COPAL-- a group that led the push for undocumented immigrants to be able to get driver's licenses in Minnesota.
At a news conference announcing the launch of the new PAC, chair, Carolina Ortiz listed several candidates the group is endorsing, all democrats in the metro and in southern Minnesota. Carolina Ortiz is on the line right now. Thanks for taking the time.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Hi. No, thank you for taking the time. I'm excited for this conversation.
CATHY WURZER: I'm pleased you have the time to talk with us. Thank you so much. As you know, Democrats have, for want of a better word, hemorrhaged support from Latino voters over the last 10 years or so. But there seems to be a bit of a change that the Harris campaign is making in courting Latino voters in states like Arizona and Nevada and Pennsylvania.
There's a recognition from the campaign that the Latino community is really diverse. And it seems like the Harris campaign is refining their message instead of treating Latinos like a monolith. What are your thoughts on that?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: I think that is completely spot on. I think the anti-immigrant agenda voiced by some of the extremist voices that we have been hearing put our most vulnerable community members directly at risk, which is why we're so excited to be launching this PAC to understand how we can really mobilize the power that we have in the Midwest.
CATHY WURZER: Can you paint a picture for us about the power of the Latino vote in the Midwest?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Yeah. So in the Midwest, we have over 6 million Latinos. We also know, and I know we also have this on our website, but it's projected that by 2060, one in every four Americans will be Latino. So we know that this is happening. We hear it from community members that they are already doing a lot of work on the ground. So we want to make sure that we get community members involved, participating, and mobilizing the voter work.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk some issues, if we could here. Earlier in the show, we had the results of that new MPR KARE11 Star Tribune poll that found almost half of Minnesotans said illegal immigration was a very serious problem. And I'm curious, how is your organization thinking about immigration during this election?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: That's a really great question. I think specifically, the PAC gives us the tools to build a counter narrative that celebrates our contributions, challenges, but also really pushes back on the disinformation that we have been hearing and advances policies that prioritize dignity, justice, and opportunity.
It's not just about responding to a text, but it's also about forging a better future with Latino voices lead in shaping the direction of this country. I remember that in past conversations, throughout the years, there's always been that narrative that Latinos in the Midwest, in Minnesota are not eligible to vote.
And throughout the work that we've been doing, we know that there are so many community members that are eligible to vote. And the ones that are not, many people like DACA, TPS recipients, are doing a lot of work in order to make sure that people are getting encouraged to get out to vote. So we know that there is power within communities, and that's what we're trying to uplift.
CATHY WURZER: You mentioned the disinformation around the immigration issue. And I'm wondering, some Latino activists on the left are a little frustrated by Vice President Harris's border rhetoric, some of it, and don't think she's defined clearly enough what she plans to do on immigration reform. Might that be a problem among some Latino voters?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: That might be a problem. And I think that's part of the work that we're trying to do is really have conversations with community members as far as what is important, what should we be working on or even said better? Through this process of endorsement, we've had multiple conversations with community members in the Midwest. And we have been hearing some of the issues that they're particularly most interested in working on.
And that has actually been part of the conversation with the folks that were looking for endorsements from Somos the Future. And part of that is understanding how that can be worked on coming directly from community members.
CATHY WURZER: Might we drill down a little bit deeper into how did you as a committee choose who to support? I mentioned you've endorsed several candidates for state house, and they're all Democrats.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Yes. So we put together a political action committee focused on, again, a mixture of different community members from the Midwest. And there was a round of interviews. So even though our PAC is endorsing all Democrats for right now, we did put the invitation out for Democrats and Republicans.
With the people that responded or the candidates that responded are the ones that we ended up having interviews with, and they're the ones that agreed to support the agenda, to support some of the efforts that they were hearing from the members that are part of this committee. And that's why we move forward with endorsements. But again, it has truly been led by members on the ground who are doing the work and who are ready to also continue to do the work.
CATHY WURZER: What's the plan? What's the battle plan between now and November 5 for you and your group?
CAROLINA ORTIZ: So we actually have a launch, what we call the Week of Action, starting on October 19. And part of that work is really understanding that our community loves music, loves food, loves coming together as community. So we're launching with a big celebration.
And part of that will be bringing a group called Los Jornaleros del Norte, who are workers in California, coming to support the work here. We will be inviting community members to come out, celebrate, and directly go door knocking after that. We'll also be doing phone banking.
So that is really the big launch of we call it the Week of Action, which is, again, acknowledging that we are a community that loves celebration, loves music, love food, coming together. And then that will continue to take us to the additional work that we have, which will again be a lot of more door knocking, phone banking, one-on-one conversations and more.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Carolina, thank you so very much for your time. We appreciate it.
CAROLINA ORTIZ: Thank you for your time.
CATHY WURZER: Carolina Ortiz is chair of the political action committee Somos the Future.
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