by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
“And I want to say to each and every one of you, that we will not stop until we achieve the one office that we have yet to achieve – the Oval Office.” said Henry Muñoz III, outlining the bold and broad mission driving the Latino Victory Project, a new political advocacy group that launched earlier this week. Muñoz is one of the co-founders of the group.
Henry Muñoz,III
The Latino Victory Project describes the overall organization as a “non-partisan effort to build political power within the Latino community to ensure the voices of Latinos are reflected at every level of government and in the policies that drive our nation forward.” The other co-founder of the initiative is Hollywood actress and advocate Eva Longoria who described the effort as a push to gain political currency in the Latin community. Longoria has been an outspoken voice fighting for Latin rights for a number of years and was a tapped by President Obama during the last election to help bolster Latino turnout. The result was a success with more than 11 million Latino voters, but still this left some 12 million eligible Latin voters who stayed home, an issue that represents the next focus for this group.
Longoria and Muñoz are working to parlay their prominence and visibility for the good of a new generation of Latino leaders that the Latino Victory Project and corresponding Latino Victory PAC can push through in the next election cycle in local, state and regional races, all on the way to the White House goal that sits front-and-center in the minds of many.
“You have to look at the national political landscape, and as you do that you see…there are certain races that are very important to the issues,” said Longoria, describing the effort to unite the nationally important issues being discussed with the need for incremental victories, race-by-race, to get over the finish line. “I think every important movement is done in a grassroots way, you have to start with the people.”
With a first slate of candidates already on board and looking toward November, victory is certainly a goal within grasp for this group. “I think all leadership starts at the local community [level]” added Muñoz, reinforcing the words of his partner and noting that one step at a time will yield the “long term” impact.
Listen to Longoria, Muñoz and some of the Latino Victory Candidates kick things off: