Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, who is eyeing a 2020 presidential bid, recently joined the Voto Latino board. | Steven Senne/AP Photo Voto Latino aiming to register 1 million new voters by 2020

Saying that Latinos are in President Donald Trump’s “cross hairs,” Voto Latino, the group committed to engaging and empowering Latinos in politics, is preparing to roll out a campaign to register 1 million voters by 2020.

The rollout comes as Voto Latino adds three members to its board, including former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, who is eyeing a presidential bid in 2020.


The new initiative, called Somos Mas (We Are More), will focus on seven states: Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and California, including on 27 college campuses spread among them. The group will also have a digital effort concentrated on North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The rollout will begin in the coming weeks.

“I gently remind people that once Latinos register, their chance of coming out to vote is 80 percent,” María Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino’s president and CEO, said Monday. “The game is going to be played in seven states.”

The effort is aiming to spend $7 million, with $4 million of that identified so far. Kumar points out that there will be 12 million new young voters by the 2020 election, two-thirds of them people of color — and that 60 percent of Latinos are under 33 years old.

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“For the next three years, Voto Latino is going back to basics to enfranchise young American Latinos so they can fully participate in our democracy at the ballot box,” Castro said.

Also joining the board are Sonal Shah, who ran the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation under President Barack Obama, and Brian Stansbury, a D.C.-based lawyer in private practice whose firm has served as pro bono counsel to the group.

Kumar said her interest in Castro joining the board was only increased by his White House ambitions. She called his biography as the son of a working-class immigrant who went to Harvard Law and got involved in public service “an American story,” which fits well with the kind of political engagement they’re looking to encourage among young Latinos.

But Kumar said she believes Latinos could rally around a 2020 candidate who is not Latino.

“People will come out for someone who recognizes our humanity, our contributions, and the work our parents have done to sacrifice,” Kumar said.

