Jeb Bush's allies say that calls for him to drop from the race are premature. | AP Photo Conservative Hispanics pressure GOP laggards to drop out

Conservative Hispanics are growing increasingly impatient with flailing GOP candidates who are refusing to drop out of the race, believing the time is now to coalesce around a contender who can beat Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

It’s not a dynamic unique to the GOP Hispanic community, but the leaders are feeling a particular urgency to unite behind a candidate before the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 23. And they’re banking on Saturday’s South Carolina primary to force the issue.


“I think the bottom two need to quit regardless of who it is,” Massey Villarreal, the former chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and head of the Republican Hispanic National Assembly told POLITICO.

He added that the fourth-place contender also “needs to do some soul searching.”

South Carolina is especially seen as a do-or-die contest for Jeb Bush, who is polling fourth of the six GOP candidates still in the field. The former Florida governor, who once was seen as the “shock and awe” candidate, has been limping along for months after Trump wounded his campaign and Marco Rubio surged past him in the polls.

Villarreal had been backing Bush, but switched to Rubio in what he characterized as a pragmatic move.

“I wish that Jeb would be the nominee but the numbers aren’t working in his favor,” Villarreal said.

“I need to get anybody but Trump and Cruz in the White House – I wish it was Jeb,” he said, adding that the Florida senator now looks like the best option to beat the current two people leading the polls for his party.

Trump is still dominating in most national polls, with a double-digit lead over Cruz, who has a pretty good jump on Rubio. The RealClearPolitics national polling averages show Trump with 34 percent, Cruz with 21 percent, and Rubio with 16. Behind him are Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has 7 percent and the former Florida governor with 5 percent.

Villarreal is one of dozens of conservative Hispanic leaders who have denounced both Trump and Cruz but who now feel stuck on the path forward. “We can’t rid the country of this cancer named Donald Trump and Ted Cruz” if the Republican field remains this size because “they’re gonna slice the vote,” Villarreal said.

He said the primary results in South Carolina on Saturday will be a big factor in who Hispanic conservatives decide to rally behind – but people need to give it up if they don’t place high enough.

In South Carolina Trump has a clear lead with 33 percent, according to RealClearPolitics. But the race is much tighter between spots no. 2 and 4. Cruz and Rubio are neck-and-neck with 18 percent to 17 percent. Bush and Kasich are also tight at 11 percent and 10 percent. Carson is in last place with 7 percent.

Alfonso Aguilar has endorsed Bush, but he believes that Rubio would also be a good candidate for the Hispanic community and at this point he is just waiting.

“We all realize that at the end we hope that one of the candidates will come out that we can support. They’re dividing up votes and it creates a problem,” said Aguilar, who is executive director of the conservative advocacy organization Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and the former chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship under President George W. Bush.

“We thought that New Hampshire was gonna be the end of Jeb,” he said. “We’re trying to see if we can get some clarity out of South Carolina.”

Aguilar said he has donors and grassroots organizations ready to move forward in Nevada but they don’t know the best route to do so. He said they'll focus on trying to attack Trump for now with radio ads in Nevada, but doesn't have any details available yet. He said frustration is growing.

“What happens when you have a big field of candidates and nobody is getting out, you’re leaving the field open for Trump to win,” Aguilar said.

But Bush’s allies are saying such talk is premature.

Rosario Marin, who was U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush and now works for Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise PAC, said that everyone needs to rally behind one candidate in order to beat Trump and Cruz – but she thinks it will be Bush.

“He [Bush] has a lot of money to go, the PAC has a lot of money to go. Even if he doesn’t do so well, he’s not going anywhere,” Marin said. “This is the situation everybody wants to believe that the November election is taking place right now. That is not the case.”

"I am very hopeful that the Republican Party as a whole will start lining up behind a candidate that can win," she said.

Bush is also driving home the point that he’s in it for the long hall. Ahead of Saturday’s primary he released his campaign dates in Nevada and his Rhode Island leadership team.

And Daniel Garza, who is executive director of the right-leaning Libre Initiative, said people need to chill out because there is still a long way to go.

“Especially after Super Tuesday, the process itself will winnow the field. I know some people are impatient. They want to get to a sort of mano a mano race, it’ll get there,” said Garza, who has not endorsed a candidate.

He added that the big GOP field has made it possible for members of the Hispanic community to get involved and excited about the election, no matter who they’re backing.

“Our process provides space for those voices. Nobody should be suppressing any voice,” he said, adding that when the time comes it will “become crystal clear who should step aside.”