Mayor Hector Lora of Passaic, the city with the most Latino population in New Jersey, says, “I want to see a Party that wants to have Latinos running for positions.”

Last week President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union Address, in which he spoke about various subjects that concerned the country, including the national budget, crime rate and immigration. In terms of the Latino community, the second largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S, the unemployment rate has reached its lowest level since 1969, but there are still other themes that worry the Latino population.

According to the Pew Research Center, the Hispanic or Latino population reached 19% in the U.S., meaning that 1 in 5 Americans is Latino. In New Jersey, they represent 20.4% of the population, the second largest after White Americans. Due to this, we can conclude that Latinos are reshaping national and state-level demographics and because of this, the national policies and regulations. In 2022, Economy is the top voting issue for Latino registered voters.

“We’re growing in large numbers. I’m not talking about the people, but economically we’re developing a force that can’t be ignored. That’s evident in the way businesses are now advertising their products to the Latino community,” declares Lora, the mayor of Passaic, the city with the highest percentage of Latino population in New Jersey.

In regard to the President’s message to Latino voters in the State of the Union, Lora is firm: “We’re an economic force. We’re a political force. But it has to be more than words. I’m grateful when a president, an official, a congressman talks about the needs of our community, but I want to see real support for Latinos and Hispanics.” The Democratic Party has been repeatedly accused of not backing Latinos for high positions of power, and Lora stands by it. “I want to see a Party that wants to have Latinos running for positions, especially in different tickets, not just one,” the mayor said. “I want to see actions that truly place Hispanics and Latinos in positions that will result in a difference in the policy that will impact the community.”

Immigration, economy and jobs, those are Lora’s main interests that the government should be concerned about in regard to the Latino community. “The president talked about more businesses opening in recent years than in any other time. Do you know who opens businesses frequently? The Hispanic community. We come to a nation, and we open businesses,” Lora says. “We’re people that look for ways to work, even when there is no work, we still find work to do – that’s part of our culture.”

The Democratic Party has been, historically, the pioneer in subjects related to minorities, and for that reason, Lora wants to thank Democratic leaders “that have fought to make a difference and to make progress in amplifying the voices of many in this country that no one was hearing.” But, nowadays, so they can prevent the Latino vote skid to the GOP, it’s important that the Democratic Party “understands that the Latino representation is not simply in the public eye and media, for example when they take photos with them, but actually put Latino representatives in influential positions of power in a local, municipal, state and federal level.”

And the most important thing is that the Latino vote is “maturing, either because of the phenomenon of social networks or because of the global context,” but Lora believes that the new Latino generations “care about the climate, the economy, defending the values and principles.” The priorities have changed, and for this reason, “the issue of immigration or the border are no longer enough for today’s Hispanics. Today’s Hispanics want to hear what you’re going to do specifically to impact their life on a day-to-day basis, what are you going to do with taxes, what are you going to do to open job opportunities and education.”