Mecklenburg Unidos officially launched Friday at Punta Cana, a Dominican restaurant on South Boulevard, where plates of empanadas, fried salami and fried plantains were served.
The event aimed to sign volunteers up to canvass for Democratic candidates and reach voters in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. The initiative hopes to reach the nearly 50,000 Latinos who are registered to vote in Mecklenburg County.
Local Latino elected officials such as CMS School Board member Liz Monterrey Duvall and County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell were on hand.
"We have a list of Hispanic voters, and so we are going to be knocking on those doors, just concentrating on those,” Rodriguez-McDowell said.
Also at the event was Representative-elect Jordan Lopez for North Carolina State House District 112.
“It’s important that it’s put on to make sure that Latino and Hispanic voters across the county know that the Democratic Party has their back,” Lopez said.
The presidential race is neck-and-neck in North Carolina, with polls showing a statistical dead heat. That makes reaching Latinos, a growing but often underrepresented group of voters, even more crucial.
The Mecklenburg County Republican Party is also trying to get Latinos to vote red. Their office says Republicans are focusing on policies that resonate with the Latino community.
