FIU Town Hall: Panel of experts discuss importance of Hispanic vote in upcoming presidential elections
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SWEETWATER – A panel of influential Hispanic voices discussed the importance of the Latino vote during a town hall moderated by CBS News Miami Anchor Eliott Rodriguez in partnership with the Miami Herald, WLRN, Univision 23 Miami and Florida International University.
FIU hosted the event inside Graham Center on the university’s main campus Thursday evening.
“The world is on fire and this president is not cutting it,” Irina Vilarino, a former GOP congressional candidate and panelist said.
The panel held little back. It included FIU Professor Eduardo Gamarra, Fernand Amandi, the managing partner of Miami-based public opinion research and strategic communications consulting firm Bendixen & Amandi, Ninoska Perez Castellon, host of Ninoska en La Poderosa on 670 AM. Jose Parra, former senior advisor to former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Irina Vilarino, former U.S. congressional candidate.
“The highest possible things could be at stake (in the November presidential election): our very system of government, whether we remain a representative democracy in the 247-year tradition that the founding fathers set out or if we move into authoritarian dictatorship, which (Former President) Donald Trump has suggested he would be on day one if he returns to power,” Amandi said.
“I’ll tell you one of the reasons Trump has so much support and it’s precisely the democratic party that demonizing him and the media,” Perez Castellon said.
Former President Trump’s run for re-election sparked debate. So did talk of the importance of the Hispanic vote. A poll by Florida International University researchers found that President Joe Biden lost 14% of his support in Miami-Dade County.
“That really surprised me,” CBS News Miami Anchor Eliott Rodriguez said. “There are a lot of concerns within the Hispanic community as we all know. It’s a very diverse community. You can’t pick one group and say (it) speaks for everybody but there are some common threads.”
Those in the auditorium heard panelists discuss inflation and border security.
“It not only surprises me as an analyst (but) as the son of immigrants myself I find it reprehensible and disgusting to think that the very people who found the American dreams on these shores would shut the door behind them to people who are looking to do the same thing through the same process,” Amandi said.
“I think Hispanics and Latinos in general have woken up to the radicalization of the Democratic Party and we’re not willing to be pawns,” Vilarino said. “I think it’s not a matter of a party. It’s a matter of country. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican: extremism is no good anywhere.”
“Your specific political narrative and the things you inherit from your background do play a lot into your political philosophy when you are a Latino voter,” Ibis Valdes, President of The League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade, said. “So that’s why I’m so glad to see it being acknowledged in a platform like this.”
It was a discussion many planned to continue hoping to fire up voters in their communities regardless of political party.
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Larry Seward