First lady Jill Biden on Monday appealed to Latino voters to support in the upcoming midterm elections Democratic candidates who can help advance her husband’s agenda in Washington.

But her office issued an apology Tuesday after the first lady received backlash for a comment she made about Latino diversity in which she cited "bodegas" and "breakfast tacos."

Speaking in San Antonio at the annual conference for UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, the first lady trumpeted President Joe Biden’s accomplishments — such as signing bipartisan bills on infrastructure funding and gun control, overseeing the rebound of the jobs market following the coronavirus pandemic and cutting child poverty. 

Jill Biden recounted meeting with young Latino leaders a few years ago who complained that their voices weren’t being heard in government. 

“They asked me, ‘How can our leaders work for us if they don't work with us?’” the first lady said.

Jill Biden said that idea has been at the heart of the president’s work, noting he has appointed several Latinos to his Cabinet.

“If you want to know what a community needs, ask them,” she said. “Give them a seat at the table and then listen to what they have to say.”

The first lady said Latinos who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 “were right to put your faith in him,” but added “we need to do much more.”

“We will never make the changes we need when so many of our leaders refuse to work together,” Jill Biden said. “When politicians block legislation that the majority of Americans want — a ban on guns that only belong on the battlefield, the right to make our own decisions about our own bodies, universal child care and community college, and ending child poverty.”

The first lady’s call comes less than four months before the midterms in which Democrats are trying to buck history and hold onto power on Capitol Hill. While the president has succeeded in passing major legislation on pandemic-related aid, infrastructure and guns, the Democrats’ slim majority and resistance from moderates within his party have prevented a major social and climate spending package and a voting rights bill from moving forward, and there’s little hope for stricter gun regulations and legislation protecting abortion rights. 

“Congress is supposed to represent the will of the people, and that's why we love people need to speak up,” Jill Biden said. “All of us united. We need to vote in races at every single level.”

She called voting the “bare minimum.”

“We have to get involved in local governments that decide how cities plan their budgets and protect their students,” the first lady added. “We have to speak up for justice and equity. We have to demand that we the people be heard.”

According to the data firm Catalist, roughly six in 10 Latinos voted for Biden in 2020, but there was about an 8-percentage point swing toward Republican Donald Trump compared to 2016.

Dr. Biden's office later issued an apology for a comment she made in praise of the diversity of the Latino community and the work of former UnidosUS leader Raul Yzaguirre, who was just last week given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, by her husband.

"Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community – as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio – is your strength," she said in her remarks.

Her spokesperson, Michael LaRosa, issued an apology Tuesday morning in a Twitter post.

"The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community," he wrote.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists issued a statement following Dr. Biden's remarks urging the first lady and "her communications team to take time to better understand the complexities of our people & communities."

"We are not tacos," the group wrote. "Our heritage as Latinos is shaped by various diasporas, cultures & food traditions. Do not reduce us to stereotypes."