How Bernie Won a Landslide of Latino Voters
In this year’s primaries, Bernie Sanders won landslide levels of support from Latinos. Here’s how he did it.
Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders stand together during the 2020 Nevada Democratic caucuses at the Bellagio Ballroom in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 22, 2020.Joe Buglewicz / Bloomberg via Getty
In 2017, Belén Sisa was arrested with seven other undocumented activists for staging sit-ins inside the halls of Congress, demanding a Dream Act without additional border militarization — a “Clean Dream Act.”
Two years later, Sisa was named the Latino Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders’s latest presidential campaign. Ugly headlines appeared in the right-wing press. “Bernie Sanders hires illegal immigrant to be press secretary,” read one. Undaunted, the campaign set about opening up offices in Latino neighborhoods, canvassing Latino homes and supermarkets, printing materials in Spanish, and getting Bernie’s message on Latino televisions, radio stations, and newspapers.
After an intensive year-long effort to earn Latino support, Sanders walked away with 53 percent of Latino voters in Nevada — three times as much as his closest competitor, Joe Biden, who secured 17 percent. On Super Tuesday, Sanders won 49 percent in California, compared to runner-up Biden’s 19 percent. And he won 39 percent of the Latino vote in Texas, compared to 26 percent for runner-up Biden.
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