Reid heats up El Tiempo interview
November 1, 2012 - 3:46 pm
During this week’s editorial board meeting with El Tiempo Spanish language newspaper, a sister publication of the Review-Journal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recalled the “decades” of difficulty he had persuading members of his own party to embrace the potential of the Hispanic voting block.
“People said to me, ‘Why do you waste your time? Most of them are illegal anyway. Those that are registered don’t vote. So why waste your time?’” Reid said. “And I always said that the Hispanic community’s power is never going to be felt until they showed off their power in an election.”
They did just that in 2010, when the Reid-backed Democratic machine used its superior standing with the Latino community to defeat Republican Sharron Angle.
“In my election, my opponent thought she had this figured out,” Reid said. “She belittled me by saying I was the best friend illegal immigrants ever had. … I guess she thought all the non-Hispanics would say, ‘Aw, that’s great.’ But they didn’t. A significant number of non-Hispanics, and especially Hispanics, revolted. They said, ‘She is demeaning us.’ And so I won my election in 2010 because of Hispanics. And that had never happened in Nevada before. We had huge turnout, huge registration, and we’ve never stopped.
“The Hispanics have come to the realization that the Republicans are not their friends.”