November 1, 2018. The article discusses the low level of Latinx and Hispanic political representation, despite the growth of this population. The article highlights that although small, there has been a slight increase in Hispanic/Latinx representation to 10 percent of both state legislative and congressional seats from less than 5 percent of state representatives and 6 percent of federal elected officials in 1996. The author argues that there should be almost double as many Hispanic/Latinx elected officials based on their share of the population.
Given that there has also been an increase this year in deportation raidsagainst immigrants and a policy of separating thousandsof migrant children from their families, Latino New Yorkers may feel politically marginalized.
New York has never had a governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. senator, attorney general or comptroller who is Latino. Likewise, New York City has never had a Latino mayor, comptroller or public advocate. “We still have a long way to go,” said Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, chairman of the Assembly’s Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.
“Hispanics are underrepresented at basically every level of government,” said David Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute. While any immigrant or ethnic group gains a greater political presence as its population grows, Kallick said, Latinos and other communities of color face additional racial discrimination that has made it harder for them to gain full representation compared to previous newcomers, such as the Irish or Italians.
Here is the link to City & State New York.