"Our economy is struggling," begins Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., in Spanish with English subtitles, "Our community is struggling." The House of Representatives' GOP Conference in Washington released a new YouTube video Wednesday entitled simply "Energia Norteamericana".
Hispanics and Latinos account for a large voting bloc of Americans, and one that has been recently troublesome to Republicans trying to draw them into the party's platform. In 2012, 71 percent of Latinos voted for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney. Despite a number of similarities in the realm of social issues between the Republican and conservative bases and the Latino voting bloc, the party has encountered an electoral discrepancy in many recent elections.
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The increasing prevalence of a number of other high-profile Latino leaders on the right, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Gov. Susana Martinez, R-N.M., has helped draw some constituencies of Latinos to the Republican platform. However, many believe that there is more to be done in that regard.
Valadao, along with Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a Cuban immigrant, take turns narrating the video en Español. Speaking to those Latino families who are struggling financially, or find breadwinners out-of-work, Radel explains how 2 million Latinos are jobless. Ros-Lehtinen continues, explaining to viewers that an expansive domestic energy endeavor would "unleash countless job opportunities" for Latinos looking for work, and will set America on the path to fiscal solvency once again.
Radel picks up where Ros-Lehtinen leaves off, explaining how increased domestic oil and energy production will ease sticker shock at gas stations and "secure" America's energy future. Denham joins Radel in a push for the Latino community to support the Keystone Pipeline initiative, a plan to build an oil pipeline through the country's midsection fervently opposed by the Obama administration.
Many Republicans hope that this additional advocacy toward the Latino and Hispanic community will allow those who have voted otherwise in the past to find that they stand on more common ground with the GOP than previously predicted.
Watch "Energia Norteamericana" below:
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