National Latino Group’s Biden Endorsement Before Nevada Caucus Angers Members Of Its National Committee

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Former Vice President Joe Biden received a boost before the critical Nevada caucus Thursday evening with an endorsement from the Latino Victory Fund, as first reported by Mediaite.

But since the group’s board of directors voted before Wednesday’s debate in Nevada to endorse him, some members of the group’s national committee — a group of Latino leaders from around the country — have been speaking privately and expressed frustration with the endorsement going to Biden, both because they feel the Latino community would be better served by other candidates, and politically, because they feel the endorsement may be going to a candidate on their way down in the race for the nomination, rather than on the way up.

“I don’t think it made any sense for Latino Victory to make that endorsement,” one member of the national committee told Mediaite, mentioning that they first endorsed Julian Castro. “After Julian dropped out there’s no upside to Latino Victory endorsing any other primary candidate. If we were going to endorse him we should have gotten some major commitments from him, which we didn’t.”

Biden has been criticized by immigration groups throughout the campaign for his resistance to addressing the three million deportations during the Obama administration. Last week, in an interview with Univision’s influential anchor Jorge Ramos, he gave his most expansive comments on the subject, admitting they were a big mistake. In its statement, Latino Victory said Biden is committed to introducing a comprehensive immigration bill in his first week as president.

“I don’t think Biden is the best choice in terms of his position and track record, there are other candidates that would be stronger on their impact for the Latino community, like [Elizabeth] Warren and [Bernie] Sanders, specifically,” said a second national committee member, who suggested Warren would be most likely to name Castro as her vice presidential nominee. “I’m looking for someone who is going to look to the future and speak to the future and that’s not necessarily Joe Biden.”

A third committee member said the process wasn’t “super transparent,” which is important for a national organization that represents the community, and also worried of the risk of endorsing Biden, should he stumble in Nevada.

“There are risks in taking this leap,” the source said. “If he comes in third in Nevada, it’s not a good look.”

A fourth committee member said the endorsement process did not begin in a transparent way, but evolved to something that was more fair with Latino Victory able to grow its influence by engaging with the different campaigns.

Latino Victory did not respond to requests for comment, or questions about how they were ensuring news of the endorsement would reach caucus goers in Nevada by Saturday.

Biden traveled the country during his time as vice president for Latino Victory and Hispanic candidates in 2014, from California to Florida, and was seen as the top surrogate for the group along with founder and actress, Eva Longoria.

“Officially, Latino Victory is with #TeamJoe to restore the soul of our nation,” said national committee chair and DNC member Leopoldo Martinez Nucete, on Facebook. “Joe Biden fights for our community, he is the most experienced in Latin America foreign policy and to deal with the most pressing issues in the hemisphere.”

The founding president of Latino Victory is Cristobal Alex, who serves as a senior advisor to Biden. One of the committee members said loyalty to Alex was one of the chief reasons Biden was able to score the coveted endorsement.

“Cristobal has worked closely with board members from the inception of the organization, so there’s a very Latino sense of loyalty,” the committee member said.

Maria Cardona, a CNN contributor and DNC member, said the endorsement matters.

“It is a big name endorsement that brings heft and credibility and resources that can make a big difference at a critical juncture in Biden’s campaign,” she said.

But on social media, followers and supporters of Latino Victory didn’t seem to agree, with the conversation on the group’s Facebook page announcing the endorsement turning negative, as well as comments on Twitter.

After this announcement, I’m going to cancel my recurring contribution to @latinovictoryus because this is some straight up bullshit. We should not support a man that stood by as families were being torn apart. It’s a trash endorsement for a trash candidate. https://t.co/bzwFbg08kj

— Vanessa Rolon (@vrolon_) February 20, 2020

Another idea from the disappointed national committee members who spoke to Mediaite was that Latino Victory could have waited to endorse to see how things shake out right before Super Tuesday, when California, Texas, and their millions of Latino voters get to have their say.

Biden is expected to do much better in Nevada’s caucus Saturday and in the next state of South Carolina, where minority voters have more of a voice than they do in the first two states. But there is an open question whether his strength with older Latino voters and rural voters in Nevada, will be enough in the face of Sanders superior state organization, momentum, and strong support from younger Latinos.

Ultimately, national committee members said they weren’t sure the endorsement could move the needle as much as Biden needs.

“It’s really late, it’s not necessarily going to reverberate to voters that are going to show up to caucus,” one said.