The courting of Latino voters in Milwaukee is underway ahead of the 2020 election, along with the push to activate the Latino voting block.

Republicans and Democrats wooed would-be voters in separate events on the city's south side this week.

On Saturday, Democratic candidates and elected leaders made their pitch to about 200 people gathered at Milwaukee's South Division High School for an event sponsored by the immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera.

Republicans took their turn Wednesday, bringing in John Pence, nephew of Vice President Mike Pence, to lead a training session for Latino voters at a south-side restaurant.

“If there’s a large (Latino) turnout, it’s going to have an impact,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barret told participants at the Voces event Saturday.

“If people stay at home, there’s going to be no impact; it’s pretty mathematical. Is the potential there for a pretty big impact? Absolutely yes. Will it occur? I don’t know.”

The Voces event brought supporters from as far away as Madison and Green Bay to hear directly from candidates for several offices who have been endorsed by Voces.

Another portion of the event was to urge residents to vote in the February primary election, the spring election and presidential election in November.

Voces organizer and Racine County Supervisor Fabi Maldonado said the group is building a statewide voter base, hoping to register 23,000 Wisconsin voters by November.

Maldonado said he believes Latino voters, along with other ethnic minority voters, are “going to swing this state” and will put people into local office who agree with the group’s positions.

In 2016 then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won Wisconsin by a narrow margin on a campaign aimed at making dramatic changes to current immigration policy.

The Trump administration has been characterized by Voces and many others as anti-immigrant.

“This election cycle means a lot to us because of what’s going on at the (southern) border, because of how a lot of undocumented people live in fear every single day,” Maldonado said. “This issue is real life for us because our families are being torn apart.”

Turnout is key

The Trump campaign also is putting intense effort into recruiting volunteers in Milwaukee's Latino community. Forty people showed up for the recent training session with Pence at Freight 38.

They heard from Pence and Mario Herrera, the former Hispanic outreach director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

"I’m here for one reason: President Trump needs four more years in Washington," Pence said. "We have a tremendous opportunity for our party and our country. I think this can be summed up in one word. Growth. We are growing as a Republican Party."

Pence told the audience, "Your voice is going to be better than anyone else's voice in saying, 'Hey, let me tell you why you should vote Trump.' Friends, neighbors, looking them in the eye and telling them, ‘the Republican Party is the party of freedom.’ ”

In an interview, Herrera said Hispanics are benefiting from Trump's economic policies.

"The chances that Hispanics are actually going to start voting for President Donald Trump in higher numbers is real," he said.

Herrera recalled that several years ago "when we first tried to do campaign interaction in the Hispanic community, the vast number of people didn't want to get involved. They were afraid of backlash from their liberal peers."

But people are no longer reluctant to get involved and show their support for the president, he said. At Trump's recent rally in Milwaukee, Herrera said around half the 250 volunteers were Hispanic.

Meanwhile, Voces organizers hope the organization's success on key issues of importance to Hispanics, including getting municipal ID cards for city residents who can’t get driver’s licenses and creating more separation between the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will sway voters to their candidates.

Barrett said those policy changes were driven by activism at the grassroots level. And Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes encouraged the audience to continue working for causes and candidates that align with their priorities.

“I remember nine years ago when I marched with Voces and I protested with Voces, and now I get to serve as lieutenant governor of the state,” Barnes said. “That’s what marching and protesting gets you. That’s what organizing gets you.”