GOP launches Hispanic Heritage Month ad campaign

The Republican Party on Friday is launching a five-figure ad buy celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, targeting Latino voters in key battleground states.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) will buy print, radio, television and digital ads in Hispanic newspapers and radio stations and on TV stations in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Colorado.

“The RNC’s commitment to the Hispanic community begins with meeting voters where they are. We understand the importance of continuing to engage with Hispanic communities year-round, investing in these important relationships, and welcoming new members into our Party of opportunity,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement.

Republicans are pushing their message to Latinos more than ever in 2022, in an attempt to capitalize on chronic Democratic under-investment in Hispanic outreach.

“Democrats parachuting in a few weeks before elections are in for a rude awakening – Republicans know the Hispanic vote needs to be earned and not taken for granted,” said McDaniel.

The GOP investment comes as both parties are reaching out to Latino voters in the home stretch of the 2022 midterms, both in states with large Latino populations, and states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Latino minorities could tip the scale in hotly contested elections.

Republicans have based their multi-million-dollar minority outreach campaign in 2022 on community centers, spaces offered for community events throughout the country which also feature RNC staffers that help recruit and train local volunteers and turn out voters. The RNC has so far opened 21 Hispanic community centers.

According to the RNC, its print ads will reach more than 400,000 households based on newspaper distribution numbers.

And some of the digital ads will be shown on El American, a bilingual conservative news site that claims to reach 20 million people per month.

The ads broadly focus on painting the GOP as the party of the American Dream, and the Democrats as a party of failed policies.

A Spanish-language TV ad takes aim at Democrats over inflation, supply chain issues and expensive housing.

“Democrats have allowed the hope of a better life to become a relic of the past,” says the ad’s narrator.

The print ads focus on the positive message of tying the GOP to the American Dream, urging voters to pick Republicans in November, to defend “a solid economy, school choice and parents involved in their children’s education, religious freedom and safe neighborhoods with law and order.”

With most polls showing Latinos especially concerned about the economy in 2022, both parties are essentially betting on their broader national pitch when appealing to Latino voters.

Republicans have found traction especially with the economic message; Democrats have seen a boon with younger Hispanics on issues like reproductive rights.

According to a National Association of Latino Elected Officials tracking poll released this week, 50 percent of Hispanics cited the economy and inflation as their top issue, and 28 percent said abortion was their top issue.