A new Hispanic organization formed this year in Tennessee, dedicated to recruiting Latinos to the Republican Party. They held a fundraiser this weekend on the south side of Nashville.
Raul Lopez is the president of the Tennessee Republican National Hispanic Assembly. He says Hispanics are often grouped together as a block, and he says conservative Hispanic voices can be drowned out.
“It got to the point where I got tired of everybody making me—everything they described me was about illegal immigration. And there’s so many of us here that have been here for years that are American citizens, so the goal of this organization is to reach out to those that are here legally and that’s how I got it started.”
Acting as a state chapter of a national group, they only have about 40 members right now. The fundraiser this weekend attracted representatives from all four Republican gubernatorial campaigns and Congressman Marsha Blackburn stopped by. Lopez says the group will begin running a series of ads designed to recruit other Hispanics as soon as they have the money. They also look to eventually support candidates.
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