Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has hired the granddaughter of civil rights activist César Chávez as a senior adviser to help aid in Latino outreach.
The campaign is bringing on Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who was a co-national political director and California state director on Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, according to ABC News. She also worked as Deputy Director of Public Engagement for the Obama administration, where she supervised outreach to several groups including Latinos, the LGBT community and veterans.
She is also the granddaughter of the late Latino American civil rights leader, César Chávez. (RELATED: Biden Punts Abrams As Veep Pick After O’Donnell Asks Him To Announce)
“I do not think that the Biden campaign thinks that Latinos are part of their path to victory,” Jess Morales Rocketto, former digital organizing director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, said to Politico.
Much of the tension between the Latin American voter bloc and the Biden campaign stems from the mass illegal immigrant deportations that took place under the Obama administration, when Biden was the vice president, ABC reports. Back in February, Biden apologized for the first time on Univision, calling the huge number of deportations a “big mistake.” (RELATED: Joe Biden Will Rescind Keystone XL Permit If Elected President, Campaign Says)
Republicans have claimed that they have been more successful with Latino outreach. GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel promoted the campaign’s official Spanish Twitter accounts while also tweeting that “Joe Biden’s campaign is a mess.”
Joe Biden’s campaign is a mess.
“The Trump Hispanic effort is much more active.”
Every day, @RNCLatinos & @EquipoTrump are getting the message out about how @realDonaldTrump has helped the Latino community & how Biden’s policies would be a disaster. https://t.co/ZDyMWXJ2Oo
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) May 14, 2020