 |
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS National Office |
2000 L Street, NW, Suite 610 PRESS RELEASE |
| For Immediate Release November 6, 2002 |
Contact: Lorraine Quiroga |
Washington, DC--Yesterday's elections confirmed growing Hispanic political power in the United States with increased representation in Congress and the election of the nation's first Hispanic state governor since 1986. Bill Richardson, New Mexico's new governor defeated another Hispanic in the historic governor's race with a 57% lead over John Sanchez at 38%.
All of the incumbent Hispanic congressional members maintained
their congressional seats, except possibly Henry Bonilla, who
may loose his seat to another Hispanic. Continuing the trend of
increasing Hispanic political clout, the Hispanic congressional
representation has grown from 21 to 24 members.
The sister and brother teams from California and Florida succeeded
in expanding Hispanic representation in Congress. California's
Linda Sanchez and Florida's Mario Diaz-Balart picked up congressional
seats. Democrats Loretta and Linda Sanchez of California made
history last night by becoming the first sisters elected to serve
in the House of Representatives at the same time. Republicans
Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, two Hispanic brothers, will now
hold two congressional seats in the House simultaneously.
Other victories include Arizona's Raul Grijalva, who won a congressional seat and incumbent Cruz Bustamante who was re-elected as Lieutenant Governor for California.
Several Hispanics also lost close races yesterday. In Texas, Tony Sanchez lost to incumbent Governor Rick Perry, despite the fact that as of noon yesterday 87% of Hispanics voted for Sanchez. Gloria Tristani lost to incumbent Pete Domenici, Dario Herrera lost to Jon Porter in Nevada and George Cordova lost to Rick Renzi.
Votes are still being counted for two tight races. In New Mexico Richard Romero and incumbent Heather Wilson are still waiting for results. Texans are also waiting for the final numbers in the battle between the two Hispanic Henrys - Henry Cuellar and incumbent Henry Bonilla. Currently, Cuellar is leading. See below for the latest results for Hispanic candidates.
For the first time software millionaire Ron Unz's efforts to deny bilingual education was denied by a state yesterday. In Colorado, an English-language education amendment was defeated. On the other hand, a similar measure succeeded in Massachusetts yesterday. Exit polls indicate that Hispanics rejected this measure by an overwhelming majority.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.
2002 Election Results for Hispanic Candidates
I. Arizona
AZ 01 Rick Renzi 49% George Cordova 46%
AZ 04 Ed Pastor 67%, Jonathan Barnert 28%
AZ 07 Raul Grijalva 58% Ross Hieb 38%
II. California
CA 31 Xavier Becerra 81%, Luis Vega 19%
CA 32 Hilda Solis 69%, Emma Fischeck 27%
CA 34 Lucille Roybal-Allard 74%, Wayne Miller 26%
CA 38 Grace Napolitano 71%, Alex Burrola 26%
CA 39 Linda Sanchez 55% Tim Escobar 41%
CA 43 Joe Baca 67%, Wendy Neighbor 30%
CA 47 Loretta Sanchez 62%, Jeff Chavez 34%
III. Colorado
Colorado Amendment 31: English-Language Education would eliminate
ESL, bilingual education, dual emersion requiring students to
learn English in one year and placing them in mainstream classrooms
ready or not.
No 56% Yes 44%
IV. Florida
FL 18 Ileana Ros- Lehtinen 68%, Ray Chote 30%
FL 21 Lincoln Diaz-Balart 100%
FL 25 Mario Diaz-Balart 66% Annie Betancourt 34%
V. Illinois
IL 04 Luis Gutiérrez 80%, Anthony López- Cisneros 15%
VI. Massachusetts
Massachusetts Measure: Question 2 English Language Education
would require all children in Massachusetts to be taught in English.
Most likely eliminating bilingual programs used to facilitate
learning English.
No 30% Yes 70%
VII. Nevada
NV 03 Jon Porter 56% Dario Herrera 37%
VIII. New Jersey
NJ 13 Robert Menéndez 78%, James Geron 18%
IX. New Mexico
[Pending] NM 01 Richard Romero 46% Heather Wilson 54%
NM Senate: Pete V. Domenici 63% Gloria Tristani 37%
NM Governor: Bill Richardson 57% John Sanchez 38%
X. New York
NY 12 Nydia Velazquez 95%, Caesar Estévez 5%
NY 16 José Serrano 92%, Frank Dellavalle 8%
XI. Texas
TX 15 Rubén Hinojosa 100%
TX 16 Sylvestre Reyes 100%
TX 20 Charles González 100%
[Pending] TX 23 Henry Cuellar 52%, Henry Bonilla 47%
TX 27 Solomón Ortiz 61%, Pat Ahumada 37%
TX 28 Ciro Rodríguez 71%, Gabriel Perales 27%
TX Governor: Rick Perry 58% Tony Sanchez 40%