After nearly two years of campaigning, the U.S. has a new president and his name is Barack Obama. Last night as media reported on the news, the Hispanic electorate was often mentioned, and Obama’s capture of nearly two-thirds of the Hispanic vote was heralded as one of the election’s many historic firsts.
Today we reprise the way Hispanic media reported on the news with field reports from FH Hispania team members in major markets across the U.S.
It is also important to note that most Spanish-language news outlets also heavily reported on the tragic death in Mexico City yesterday of Mexico’s Interior Minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño, which was announced as the polls were closing.
Atlanta
Mundo Hispánico, the leading Hispanic paper in the state, highlighted President-elect Obama’s win as “Barack Obama, a New Era Begins.” It also featured facts about Latinos and Election Day.
The Web site of Viva Atlanta (105.7 FM), Georgia’s top Hispanic radio station, also featured the election results with the article, “Barack Obama Wins the Presidency” alternating it with “America Elects its Next President,” including a photo gallery.
The Latino electorate in Georgia grew at astounding rates. However, despite the growth, the total current number of Latino voters is still not as significant as compared to the rest of Georgia's electorate. Latino registered voters are estimated at 100,139, a small fraction (2 percent) of the overall electorate in Georgia. Through the Georgia Latino Vote initiative, many voter registration drives were conducted resulting in 18,625 newly registered Latino voters in 2008, a growth rate of 30 percent from last year.
Both Puerto Rican Pedro Marin (D) and Spaniard David Casas (R) won seats in the House of Representatives, by 59.8 percent and 53.2 percent respectively.
Georgians also had many reasons to celebrate yesterday evening, among them, Dr. Martin Luther King’s family and 106-year old Ann Nixon Cooper, who was also featured in today’s news. Obama spoke about Cooper for more than a minute during his acceptance speech, chronicling several of the historic events that have occurred during her 106 years. (Contributor: Ana Toro)
Chicago
Last night and this morning’s news included lots of coverage of the Obama Victory Rally in Grant Park.
Univision and Telemundo both had reporters stationed at the event, who interviewed Latinos in attendance, and campaign supporters and staff, including Federico de Jesús, Obama spokesperson.
In the studio, guests such as local radio legend Javier Salas (at Univision) and U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, also chimed in with commentary, with the latter showing up at one point just minutes apart on the NBC and Telemundo sets. Other big stories of the night included Gutierrez’ ninth win and the election of Anita Alvarez to Cook County State’s Attorney.
Hoy’s headline today reads “Obama Demolishes” and the paper feature six pages of rally and election news, including profiles of local first time, Hispanic voters. (Contributor: Marisa Villalobos)
Houston
The Houston Chronicle’s La Voz ran stories on Obama receiving 67 percent of the Latino vote nationally, while also reporting on significant Democratic gains countywide, including Sheriff-elect and former Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia. (Contributor: Ray Fohr)
Los Angeles
La Opinion highlighted the record-breaking voter turnout (more than 82 percent of L.A. County voters) and reporter Claudia Nuñez covered 20-year old Pomona candidate Mark Nava. (Contributor: Ray Fohr)
Miami
With a headline that spells “OBAMA,” El Nuevo Herald highlighted on the cover the historic nature of the election’s result and ran an AP story on the results. An inside article covered the difficult challenge three Cuban-American representatives faced in winning reelection running against other Hispanics in seats that had been previously mostly unchallenged. This points to the weakening grip of Republicans among the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Hispanic community and two of the incumbents had to run very negative campaigns focused on personal character issues in order to hold on to their seats. Finally, a column by Daniel Shoer Roth focused on how Floridians had opted for intolerance in passing a constitutional amendment barring gay marriages and other civil unions.
The Miami Herald focused more on the demographic shifts that aided the Democrats in Florida. An article on the cover highlighted the shift of Florida Hispanics to the Democratic Party as traditional Cuban voters are becoming a smaller part of the mix. Obama carried 57 percent of the Hispanic vote in Florida – a big shift from the Bush elections. (Contributors: Jorge Diaz de Villegas and Maribel Ferrer)
New York
After declaring its endorsement for Obama on the front page a few weeks ago, the headline of today’s El Diario La Prensa simply stated “PRESIDENTE,” with the entire front page taken up by a photo of our 44th President. Pages six and seven include a chronology of civil rights leaders and historic African-American figures. Election coverage spanned through the first five pages of this, one of the oldest Hispanic newspapers in the country. (Contributor: Maribel Ferrer)
Washington, D.C.
D.C., Virginia and Maryland are all now BLUE. The Washington Post headline stated that “Obama Makes History: Succeeded in Redrawing Electoral Map.” Catherine Tsai in Denver and Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas contributed to a report posted on the Web site about how Hispanics, young voters, and women helped Obama win.
Washington Hispanic highlighted that the metropolitan area of D.C., Virginia and Maryland became the opponent’s most desired and reporter Víctor Caycho shares that Obama’s win is the culmination of the most well financed campaign in history.
El Tiempo Latino ran stories about Barack Obama becoming the first multiracial president of the country, while also highlighting two Latinas running on tickets for local school boards, Emma Violand-Sanchez a Bolivian in Arlington, and Lillian Perdomo, a Salvadoran in the District of Columbia.
And on the other side of the region, in some zones of Maryland, the voters observed on their ballots the name of the Cuban Lorenzo Gaztañaga, who ran for the Libertarian Party of District 2 for U.S. Congress.
Ramon Jimenez from El Pregonero showcased the wonderful work of the Salvadoran community to mobilize the Hispanic Vote. Key leadership included Ana Sol Gutiérrez and Victor Ramirez, delegates of the Legislative Assembly of Maryland; Walter Tejada, President of the Governing Body for Arlington County in Virginia; and Will Campos, Councilman from Prince George’s County, Maryland. (Contributor: Marieli Colon-Padilla)
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