Pundits agree that Iowa’s demographics give Donald Trump a better chance of winning here than in any other state President Barack Obama carried twice.
However, a growing number of Iowans don’t match stereotypes about our state’s mostly-white electorate.
Hillary Clinton’s Iowa coalitions director, Maryland House Delegate Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk, spoke to Bleeding Heartland this week about the campaign’s outreach to Latino and African-American communities. Peña-Melnyk has put 6,000 miles on her car since August, traveling from Council Bluffs to Columbus Junction and many places in between.
Even in this overwhelmingly white state, a strong turnout among Latino and African-American voters could swing a close election.
Voter registration
Clinton supporters have hosted house parties around the state geared toward registering new voters.
Staff and volunteers have also worked to register voters at barbershops, nightclubs and other African-American and Latino businesses.
UPDATE: Storm Lake Times editor Art Cullen commented, “Democratic voter registration is up by 400, more than 10%, over 2014 in Buena Vista County, where IDP [the Iowa Democratic Party] registered voters at Tyson’s pork plant.”
Events
According to Peña-Melnyk, in October alone Clinton’s coalitions team organized more than 30 events in Iowa featuring African-American and Latino surrogates. Political leaders who campaigned for Clinton here include five members of Congress (Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas), former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, Kansas City Mayor Sly James, and New York state lawmaker Mike Blake. Many Iowans will remember Blake from his work here in 2007, as deputy political director and constituency outreach director for Barack Obama’s campaign.
Other well-known Clinton supporters to campaign in Iowa recently include Reverend Zina Pierre and actors Danai Guirira from the Walking Dead and Erika Alexander from the Cosby show and Living Single.
Many African-American and Latino leaders have appeared alongside Hillary or Bill Clinton in Iowa this fall. Immigrants have also been well-represented at campaign events. For instance, during Hillary Clinton’s October 28 rally in Des Moines, a young Muslim immigrant spoke to the crowd, warning Trump, “You are right to fear me … because I just turned 18 and will … be voting for love & tolerance.”
In addition to organizing special events, Peña-Melnyk said she has met with more 100 African-American and Latino leaders, and Clinton’s staff have had a presence at numerous community meetings and functions.
Messaging
Clinton’s national campaign staff is more diverse than that of any previous presidential candidate. That diversity is also represented on the Hillary for Iowa team, which has reached out to non-profit groups and has produced materials targeted for the African-American community and Latino community.
Clinton’s campaign has placed radio and newspaper ads in African-American and Latino outlets throughout the state and has made sure leaders from those communities are featured in other messaging.
Peña-Melnyk has spoken in many churches about “the power of the vote” and has worked with leaders of Iowa mosques. (Several large Iowa cities have mosques or Islamic centers.)
On college campuses across Iowa, Clinton staff have worked to engage African-American, Latino, and immigrant student organizations. Peña-Melnyk has also been a guest speaker at some secondary schools with large numbers of African-American and Latino students.
Organizers have recruited volunteers to phone bank and canvass heavily African-American and Latino precincts.
Early voting
As part of a broader strategy to push in-person early voting more this year than in the past, Clinton’s staff “identified and petitioned specific early voting sites” that would be convenient for the African-American or Latino communities, Peña-Melnyk said. Non-partisan flyers in English and Spanish publicized satellite voting locations and opening times. Staff have also done outreach in the refugee community to activate eligible voters to cast early ballots.
After “early vote luncheons,” community leaders have walked with supporters to a nearby satellite location.
The coalitions team worked with more than 50 churches to help bring supporters to early vote sites. This “souls to the polls” strategy has proven successful in many parts of the country–so much that North Carolina Republican lawmakers banned Sunday early voting specifically because it benefited “disproportionately Black” and “disproportionately Democratic” citizens.
Home stretch
During the final days of the campaign, Peña-Melnyk said, Hillary for Iowa is organizing block parties in major metropolitan areas like Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. An estimated 57 percent of African-American Iowans live in those four cities. Polk, Scott, Linn, and Black Hawk counties also have significant Latino and Asian-American populations.
In addition, Clinton’s voter protection program has recruited “hundreds of volunteers” in Iowa to help protect the right to vote in the African-American, Latino and immigrant communities. Supporters can volunteer here to be poll observers on November 8. There’s a special sign up page for attorneys.
Final note: the Clinton campaign isn’t the only organization doing outreach among minority voters in Iowa. I would welcome guest posts by others involved in this work, whether on behalf of a campaign or for a non-partisan organization such as the League of United Latin American Citizens.