Latin Post presents "Turnout," a series featuring leading Latino politicians, government leaders and advocacy groups discussing and debating the most important issues facing the Latino voting bloc.

Listen to the Unedited "Turnout" Interview with People for the American Way's Coordinator for Political Campaigns Carlos Sanchez:

More than two-thirds of the U.S. Latino electorate live in six states -- Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas -- but one progressive advocacy organization has been working on having anti-Latino and anti-immigrant representatives accountable and heard for Latinos across the country, especially for the presidential election season.

With people entering their names for the presidential election, People for the American Way (PFAW) has reported on anti-Latino statements made by far-right leaders and GOP-elected officials, such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said he would have voted "no" on the DREAM Act, and when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said President Barack Obama acted like a "Latin American dictator" when he announced his immigration executive orders.

As coordinator of political campaigns for PFAW, Carlos Sanchez helps drive the nonprofit's Latino vote program that exposes a "right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-Latino rhetoric of the GOP."

"As a Latino, I'm really excited about the potential that the Latino community can have on electing the next president," said Sanchez, in regards to the 2016 presidential campaign so far. "I think immigration reform is going to be a very important issue but also income inequality and education -- issues that are really important for the Latino community."

While there appears to be diversity in the Republican presidential candidacy field, such as the inclusion of Cuban-American U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, African-American neurologist Ben Carson, Indian-American Louisiana Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina -- the only female Republican candidate so far -- the priority should be on the issues.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, along with Bush and Rubio, have ties to the Latino community. While Rubio's connection is well documented, Cruz's father is Cuban and Bush is fluent in Spanish and married a Mexican native.

"I think it's a great thing that there's diversity in the presidential ticket. I think that having Latinos (running for president) is a good thing, however, I don't think that just because one is Latino, one has the right priorities for the Latino community," said Sanchez.

"For example, the GOP has shown already it is very extreme and that they are pandering got their base. We've seen [Wisconsin Gov.] Scott Walker say that he's against legal immigration; we've seen Marco Rubio saying he's going to deport DREAMers; and we've seen Jeb Bush take stances against the minimum wage [and] against social security."

As Latino Decisions' Stella Rouse wrote, "liveable wages" have been important for Latinos yet the federal minimum wage has not increased since 2007. Polling data conducted by Latino Decisions found 55 percent of Latino voters are more likely to support an elected official who votes for a minimum wage increase.

"If the minimum wage is raised to $10.10 an hour (as it has been proposed), this means a total increase in wages of $8.5 billion in real dollars," wrote Rouse. "Advocates also stress higher wages would make Latinos less dependent on social services, thus reducing government spending, which is a benefit to the broader economy."

On how the Republican Party can improve its Latino outreach, Sanchez said the GOP has to abandon policies that hurt the Latino community and, instead, embrace policies that the will benefit the electorate.

"We also want to see the GOP hold the folks that use very anti-immigrant rhetoric accountable," Sanchez added. "Many times folks in the GOP will use anti-immigrant rhetoric without very little consequences. Very recently, a conservative leader compared immigrants to rats and cockroaches and received an applause from the audience -- that's unacceptable."

For the Democratic presidential field, the most-recognized name is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As Latin Post reported, Clinton has been working on earning the Latino vote by hosting an immigration roundtable discussion in Nevada where she addressed her stance on the topic and Obama's immigration executive orders.

"Secretary Clinton has taken very positive steps to earn the trust of the Latino community," Sanchez said.

"Recently, she sat with DREAMers and said she would expand executive action if Congress wouldn't take action. ... She's also hired Latinos to higher positions in her campaign and not just to do Latino-specific work."

The Latinos hired by Clinton are Amanda Renteria as the Clinton campaign's national political director and Xochitl Hinojosa as director of coalitions press, which oversees Latino, black and women-related media.

Sanchez continued, "Those are very positive steps. I do want to see what else comes out of her campaign, but I think she's moving in the right direction."

Unlike the Republican Party's presidential field, the Democrats have not been receiving much acclaim for having a diverse pool of candidates. Sanchez said it is "absolutely" important for the Democratic Party to also have diversity among their candidates.

"For those of us who care for a representative democracy, there should be diversity not just on the presidential ticket but in local and state governments as well," Sanchez said.

"Latinos, increasingly, are aware of their power, in presidential elections specifically. I think they're going to come out and vote for the president and candidate that gives them the best options in terms of policies."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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