UnidosUS kicks off Las Vegas convention; Biden expected to speak

The nation’s largest Latino-centered civil rights organization on Monday kicked off its annual convention on the Strip.

This year’s “Our Time is Now!” three-day event is centered around November’s elections and the crucial Latino vote that could swing them.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to give keynote remarks on Wednesday to about the 1,500 in attendance.

Attendees at two packed ballrooms at MGM Grand began hearing Monday from more than 100 leaders who were set to discuss a variety of topics, including democracy and election integrity.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, the first Latino to ever serve in that position, was among the convention’s first-day speakers.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, and Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar also spoke.

‘We have tremendous power’

UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguia opened her remarks expressing condolences to the victims of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump two days before.

“I just wanted to take a moment to address the appalling attack on the former president at the political rally this past Saturday,” Murguia said. “Despite our differences, we are glad that the (former) president is safe, and our thoughts go out to the victims.”

She added that “violence has no place in American politics.”

Murguia said that political differences must be settled in the ballot box, noting that Latino voters could play a “deciding factor” in the upcoming election.

The convention aimed to bolster Latino voices.

Murguia said that more than 2,500 Latinos reach voting age every day and that more than a fifth of the community’s eligible voters were projected to cast a ballot for the first time in November.

“Nearly 40 percent of newly eligible voters in the battleground states of Arizona and right here in Nevada are Latino,” Murguia said.

“We have tremendous power,” she said, “And it is essential that we exercise that power this November.”

While the nonpartisan organization doesn’t endorse candidates, Murguia said: “You should vote. There’s just too much at stake.”

Nevada officials among speakers

Horsford called the local Latino community a “powerhouse at all levels of governments: in business, in labor and in advocacy.”

“To me, the Latino spending dollar is an important part of our political capital as citizens in this nation,” Horsford said. “We need to be more than just the consumers in our community. We also need to be the owners and the creators of that wealth and to share in that success.”

In a bilingual speech, Becerra touted the White House’s health and human services efforts, including the vaccine roll out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Becerra spoke about the Latino fight inspired by his father who used to tell him in Spanish, “Son, if I can get up in the morning to go to work, it’s a good day.”

But he said that a subset of the community needed more than “luck” to survive.

“We all have to understand the value of being able to get up in the morning, to go to a job, and consider that a good day,” he said. “Because there’s still Americans for whom that’s very difficult.”

Aguilar and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes were part of the “Latino Power en Acción: Defending our Democracy” panel.

Aguilar said there was more work to be done to get the Latino population out to vote, noting that 30 percent of Nevadans identified as Latinos and that 20 percent of overall voters are Latino.

“However, only 50 percent of that one fifth turn out, and if you look at how close our elections are, you increase turnout 3-4 percent, you’re going to flip the dynamic for some races.”

“Before our community starts to understand that, they have to see us running for office, they have to see government working for them,” Aguilar said. “It’s my responsibility as an elected official to get out there and show them that government does work for them.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.