ATLANTA — A new political action committee was just launched in Georgia, in the hopes of encouraging Latinos to run for office.
The group, called Pa'Lante Georgia, is planning to recruit, train, and financially support candidates in Georgia.
Co-founder and chair Humberto Garcia-Sjogrim said it is important to increase Latino representation at the ballot box, given the Latino community makes up 10% of the Georgia population.
“If we had equal representation, then we’d have roughly 600 seats from city council, school board, all the way up to the Georgia State Senate. We know less than 20 Latinos. So 20 versus 600. That’s a third of 1% versus 10% if we had equal representation," he explained.
Garcia-Sjogrim said that imbalance is especially noticeable in heavily Latino-populated areas, including Dalton.
"72% of students in Dalton Public Schools are Latino. 72%," he reiterated. "Not one member of city council is Latino. No one on the county commission is Latino."
The board and members of Pa'lante Georgia held the first fundraising event last week, and are already endorsing four candidates:
"Within days of endorsing them, we cut them a $250 check," Garcia-Sjogrim added. "It's not a lot but it's a promise of more to come if they run a good campaign. We started to bring money in, we bootstrapped this ourselves. Our wonderful board has helped get this off the ground."
One of the group leaders helping spearhead these efforts is Alejandro Chavez, who has been advocating for Latino rights for years. His grandfather was Latino civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez, so as Garcia-Sjogrim puts it, "organizing runs in his blood."
During the fundraising event, he reminded people: "People need to look at you, hear your name, see your face, and see themselves in you and your background. That inspires people to run."
Humberto said there are a few reasons why there aren't enough Latinos running for office.
"Our community is very young," he explained. "The average Latino is only 26 years old. The average Georgian is 36 years old. Community in many cases is first generation or second generation, so we don’t have deep roots. Frankly, a lot of members of our community are worried first about the essentials like: the job, education for their kids, roof over their heads."
Garcia-Sjogrim said there are not enough Latinos running for office due to the community being young, with many being first or second-generation, making it harder to feel fully established.
He said that with the Latino population expected to grow to 2.5 million people by 2050, they hope to change that.
"Just like years ago, there weren’t perhaps any Black elected officials in Georgia. After the Civil Rights Act, the Black community did a tremendous job of organizing, seeking representation, and building that pipeline of candidates," he added. "We're a few decades behind for obvious reasons, and looking to do the same thing, which is make sure our community is represented."
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