Allow this to be a post-election analysis that comes from the heart of the Mexican-American /Chicana community.
Women, Latinas and Hispanics carried Obama through a re-election. The GOP needs a major overhaul and they need to eliminate their anti-immigrant platform they adopted one week before the Florida RNC Convention of 2012.
We were watching the Senate seats very closely last night because the last thing we need is more obstructionism and gridlock. American voters made it clear last night that we are seeking bipartisanship. We are tired of partisanship tactics – and we want to see people at the Hill work on solutions and not Party bickering. They are hired as public servants to do a job for the American people that will serve in the best interest of the United States and not necessarily their Party.
We knew that the pro legal immigrant candidates needed to beat the Tea Party Republican U.S. Candidates last night and were happy that several Tea Party people lost — it began with learning of the demise of the former Tea Party favorite Scott Brown from Massachusetts when he lost against Elizabeth Warren. I believe the loss of Brown marks the decline of Tea Party extremism at the Senate level.
Last night got better for us when we learned the extremist Tea Party candidate Richard Mourdock was defeated by Joe Donnelly, and even though Donnelly cannot receive praise from the Mexican-American community in light of his failure to support the DREAM Act in 2010 — we are glad the extremist Mourdock was defeated. The National Tequila Party Movement (woman-led organization) went to Indiana and held a Get Out the Vote Concert Rally where we spoke to students from 5 different universities that included Indiana University and Notre Dame. We went there to support the last decent Republican Senator via Dick Lugar because he was 1 of only 3 GOPers who voted for the DREAM Act at the Senate level. Hell, Senator John McCain didn’t even support the DREAM (and we attribute this to grudge holding he has against us since he lost to Obama in 2008).
The night still got better when we learned Senator Bill Nelson beat the Tea Party Connie Mack. (Now if we can just see and get the Puerto Rican community to ensure that Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio will be a one term Senator since Rubio supported Arizona’s SB 1070 and did not support the DREAM Act when we needed him to be a light instead of jaws).
As the night progressed, we learned Sen. Claire McCaskill easily defeated Tea Party Republican Todd Akin, and last but not least we are happy that New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich beat Heather Wilson.
We are disappointed that Bob Kerrey did not defeat Debbie Fisher in Nebraska, but the former Democratic U.S. Candidate Ben Nelson of Nebraska didn’t vote for the DREAM Act in December 2010 anyway, and we believe Nebraska will not support the immigrant community even though the Midwest benefits economically from immigrant and competitive labor.
Meanwhile in Arizona, last night we all witnessed a strong Tea Party Republican stronghold when Jeff Flake killed Richard Carmona. Both Carmona and Flake spent millions of dollars in order to win and I wanted to see Richard take the seat. I am surprised at Marc Victor’s 4% pull but it wasn’t enough to hurt Flake. For those who may not know this, Jeff Flake is despised by the Mexican-American community in Arizona for not supporting the DREAM Act in 2010 and Chicanos know that it is a matter of time with our growing demographics that our voting clout will continue to increase. We hope to eventually vote out uncompassionate politicians like Jeff Flake. It is only a matter of time and our numbers are working for us as the aging population continues to … well, age.
I’m surprised with the Arizona Mormon community in Arizona – particularly those who claim to spread the Mormon gospel. I watched them bash the ousted Mormon Russell Pearce for his self-deportation ideas, but on the other hand, they turned a blind eye to Jeff Flake and his failure to support the 2010 DREAM Act and legal immigration reform … in fact, these Mormon leaders supported Mitt Romney even though Romney made Arpaio his chair in 2008, and Mitt received campaign advice this past year from Kris Kobach (the legal architect behind many of these anti-immigrant laws). I’m disappointed. They will never understand the collateral damage Romney has created for them.
On a positive note, I am happy to see more WOMEN in the U.S. Senate! The Tequila Party (woman-led counter movement to the Tea Party) is extremely happy to see more women rise.
Congratulations to Elizabeth Warren, Claire McCaskill and Tammy Baldwin!
