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Republicans' Anti-GOTV Tactics

A Republican Congressional candidate in Orange County is being asked to withdraw his challenge to Democrat incumbent Loretta Sanchez after his campaign was linked to illegal intimidation letters sent this week to newly registered Latino voters. The letters were written in Spanish and claim that it is a crime for immigrants to vote in federal elections, punishable by jail time or deportation.

Democrats and Republicans alike have rightfully condemmed this deplorable tactic, and Tan Nguyen, the candidate in question who has a history of racist and anti-immigrant campaign mail, is being asked to drop out of the election. Nguyen is holding a press conference today to address the outcry. Also holding a press conference is the Our Children Our Vote Coalition, an emerging Vietnamese-Latino progressive coalition that PowerPAC is supporting this election cycle.

Leaders of the coalition said they were saddened and disturbed by the allegations, and said they underscore the importance of the Coalition's work to bring the Latino and Vietnamese communities together. The Coalition is supporting two Democratic candidates, one a Latina woman and the other a Vietnamese man, for Westminster School Board this November.

The Coalition is coordinating a press conference this Friday at 9 am, to bring Vietnamese, other Asian and Latino leaders together to condemn this hate mail and its mean-spirited attempt at scaring immigrants from exercising their right to vote. The press conference is also an opportunity to let the public know that there are community-based efforts, such as the Coalition, that have been working hard to build bridges between our communities.

Sanchez was clearly heading to victory anyway, but the real tragedy could be in California Senate District 32, which overlaps with where the mailer was sent, and where Democrat Lou Correa is locked in a tight battle with Republican Lynn Daucher.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters has been asked to send a follow-up letter to all voters who received the racist mailer correcting the errors.

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