WASHINGTON — Today and in the past, seats in Wisconsin’s congressional delegation have mostly been held by white men. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, won election to Congress in 2004, becoming the first, and to this day only, Black person to represent Wisconsin in Washington. And in all of history, Wisconsin has never had a Hispanic member of Congress.
“I think it's a matter of time,” said Armando Ibarra, a Latinx studies professor at UW-Madison. “And it's a matter of growth before we see that second, third, fourth generation of Latinx politicians that will come out of Wisconsin.”
Right now, only four of 132 members in the state assembly and senate are Hispanic.
“The first instance of a Latino running for a large elected office was in 1970,” said Sergio González, an assistant professor of history at Marquette University. “Mexican immigrant to Milwaukee named Dante Navarro, who was a community leader, decided to run for the state assembly… He ultimately lost, but that kind of opened up a very long process of Latino Wisconsinites trying to get into office to kind of represent the voices of this community that was steadily growing across the state.”
Notably, González said the Hispanic population is increasing outside of the blue strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison, which could eventually lead to an increase in the number of Hispanic representatives in Wisconsin, particularly at the local level.
“I don't know what the prospects look like for a Latino actually making it to federal recognition, right? Going all the way to Congress to represent the state at the federal level,” González explained. “There haven't really been large efforts. We haven't really had any major candidates who have run as Latinos in Wisconsin for those national positions, but I do believe that it will eventually come. As the community continues to grow and as they enter into political maturation, that power will come as well."
Moore, the Democrat from Milwaukee, represents the largest Latino community in the state.
“And from my understanding,” Gonzalez said, “I think that many Latinos feel like she has kind of represented their interests in an appropriate and proficient way in Washington, D.C., and that’s why she continues to get elected representing this area of the state. I think in other parts of the state, you are seeing Latinos begin to mobilize and ask whether or not the representatives they have representing them are doing that same type of work… I think it’s going to take some time, however, for people to begin to mobilize, right? It’s a question of political consciousness and political education. It’s a question of getting people registered to vote, and then it’s a question of finding the right candidates who are prepared to step into that stage and who can really encompass the dreams, the aspirations and the needs of their Latino constituents, as well as other constituents who don’t identify as Latino.”
According to the 2020 census, Hispanics comprised just 8.1% of the state’s population. But the numbers are increasing rapidly, and Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the state. The group could be decisive in deciding whether Former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the state in November.
“It’s estimated that there’s going to be 180,000 Latinx voters in the state of Wisconsin, making it even that much more important for both parties to really work on turning out Latinx voters,” Ibarra said.
Ibarra said polling shows that Latino voters in Wisconsin lean left and are keen on the issues of education, abortion, and immigration.
“We know that the Latinx person in Wisconsin is about 25 years old, works at similar rates as non-Latinx folks, and has higher levels of poverty,” Ibarra said. “So more than likely, the Latinx in Wisconsin that you meet today, not only is younger, not only is eligible in these national elections, but more than likely was born in the state of Wisconsin.”
But Charles Franklin of the Marquette Law School said it’s too early to know how Harris will perform among Hispanic voters.
“When we look at the vote in 2020, in the predominantly Hispanic wards in the City of Milwaukee, Biden got either 6% or 8% fewer votes than Clinton got in those Hispanic wards,” Franklin said. “It’s four or 5% total of registered voters, but the slippage in Democratic support that we saw from ‘16 to ‘20 was notable. Looking for [if that slips] more this year is, I think, a further step to keep an eye on.”
As for elective office, experts say a larger Hispanic population in Wisconsin won’t be the only reason there will be a Hispanic candidate for Congress.
“Demographics is not destiny, right? So just because a population is growing doesn’t necessarily mean that population will manifest into having political power,” González said. “It does really take the concerted work of organizations of people to come together and make those conscious decisions.”
And it’ll be another two years before there’s a chance for a Hispanic Wisconsinite to seek power in Washington. This November, no congressional candidates from Wisconsin are Hispanic.