CONFESSION BOOTH: An injured Democratic Party is trying to figure out its way forward at SOMOS. Sixteen-hundred miles south of New York — from the island a Trump stumper called a “floating island of garbage” before Latinos as a whole increasingly broke for the former President — Democrats were in finger-pointing mode. And Latino voters are taking center stage in the reckoning. “It feels like therapy today, we are here confessing to our sins and listening to others do the same,” Henry Garrido, the Dominican-born leader of DC 37, New York City’s largest private-sector union said. Garrido was speaking to a crowd of state lawmakers, lobbyists and activists attending a panel titled "Navigating Change together - The Latino Vote 2024.” Outside the windowless room, a gray overcast stalked the tropical island. And Garrido and others were willing to confess what, in their view, Democrats needed to — but couldn’t — say before the election: - The migrant crisis drove away voters — Latinos included — from the Democratic party
- Focusing on gender identity and abortion is out of touch with many working-class folks’ main concerns
- Talking about positive macroeconomic trends when rent is high and grocery prices are crushing is a fool’s errand
“While they were struggling to find affordable housing in a city that has a residency requirement, migrants have hotels,” Garrido said, expressing a concern he said he had heard from members in meeting after meeting.
“While they were struggling to fight for economic justice, [migrants] were given debit cards,” he added. “They were getting healthcare, when we're trying to fight for the very healthcare that we have fought for in our collective bargaining agreements.” And he admitted the explosiveness of what he was saying: “I’m gonna say it because I’m a troublemaker in my profession.” Polling from the Hispanic Federation — whose staff joined the panel — substantiated the idea that Latinos, like so many other voters, are drawn to platforms that center economic issues. “Not immigration, like everybody tried to pigeonhole us into, but pocketbook issues — the inflation, jobs, the economy, affordable housing — were the top issues for Latinos,” said Frankie Miranda, the federation’s president. For some reason, beyond the lower 48, with tropical air wafting around the SOMOS conference’s indoor-outdoor El Caribe hotel, inhibitions were tempered and Democrats felt free to let it all hang out. “It's refreshing to hear all the things said on a stage that I hear when I talk to my constituents, that I think in my head, and sometimes we don't say out loud,” said state Assemblymember Karines Reyes, who is organizing the conference. Reyes, approached after the event by Playbook, was eventually able to express herself. “For some Latinos, they care about equity, they care about fairness, but sometimes abortion is not a priority for them,” Reyes said. “Gender rights are not a priority. Not that it’s not important, it's just not a priority. They were voting on their priority. Those priorities were clearly the pocketbook issues.” But not everyone was willing to accept the idea that the loss of support among Latinos was due to some grave messaging mistake. “Pundits love drama and blame, and the first thing that they did was blame Latinos so that people of color could blame each other for what's really happening,” said Camille Rivera, the self-identified “lefty” of the panel and founder of La Brega y Fuerza, a left-leaning organization aimed at engaging Puerto Ricans on the mainland. “We just have to be so careful about that. As an afro-Latina and as a person of color, it is so easy for many people to blame the other,” Rivera said. “They want us to do that. Trump wants us to do that. Billionaires want us to do that. White institutions want us to do that.” — Jason Beeferman | 
