San Antonio Express/ By Peggy Fikac
AUSTIN — He would like English to be the official language of the
United States, opposes Texas' law allowing in-state college tuition for
illegal immigrants' children, takes a dim view of bilingual education
and is against the proposed federal DREAM Act.
He's also a Latino who grew up speaking Spanish and English, an immigrant's son who delights in telling of his father's journey.
And for Ted Cruz, the former Texas solicitor general running in a crowded GOP primary for U.S. Senate, there's no disconnect.
“I
am a conservative who also happens to be the child of an immigrant who
came here penniless and not speaking English,” said Cruz, 41.
Running to the right simply makes sense in a GOP primary, noted Arturo Vega, associate professor of political science at St. Mary's University.
“He's not running as an ethnic candidate,” Vega said. “You don't want to run an ethnic campaign in a non-ethnic party, right?”
But some see a potential disconnect elsewhere in Cruz's primary fight, where his best hope is to push Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
into a runoff. They say Cruz's surname might be a hurdle despite his
hard-right stands, noting GOP voters two years ago rejected an incumbent
railroad commissioner who blamed his Hispanic surname.
In
addition, Cruz's story differs from the usual Texas immigration tale —
his father came from Cuba, not Mexico. It's similar to the story that
helped propel Marco Rubio
to a U.S. Senate seat in Florida. But it might not resonate the same in
Texas, where about 8 million of 9.5 million Latinos are of Mexican
origin and about 47,000 are Cuban.
“There is a mistake that a lot
of voters make, a lot of politicians make, and a lot of people in the
media make — that when we talk about Hispanics, we're talking about a
very monolithic group of people,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of The Cook Political Report.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario