RNC opens Laredo Hispanic Community Center
Laredo Morning Times
Jorge A. Vela
August 23, 2021 – 8:45 AM
The Republican National Committee and several local conservative leaders came together Saturday to officially open the RNC Laredo Hispanic Community Center which aims to help spread the Republican message to Hispanics in the community.
According to the RNC, the Laredo Hispanic Community Center opening is part of the RNC’s multi-million dollar effort to engage voters in the growing Hispanic community in Laredo and across the country, and it is the first center of its kind to open in the state. During the ceremony, various leaders spoke both in English and in Spanish on how important the center is for the future of the Republican Party locally.
RNC Co-Chair Tommy Hicks officially declared the center open in a ceremonial press conference on Saturday saying the opening of the center is a first in the city and a first in trying to help Hispanics who are conservatives have a voice in the area.
“We are really excited as we are opening our first Texas Hispanic Community Center here in Laredo, and so the goal is to start conversations with the community here in Laredo and try to continue to grow our party as large as we can among all Americans,” Hicks said. “Laredo is a very important community for us as the border community is extremely important for us at the Republican Party as we just had a big victory with the mayor winning in a county where Joe Biden won by 17%. We want to help continue this momentum, and we see this as an actual place to continue this momentum as a party.”
The community center will serve as the first Latino engagement community center opening in the nation ahead of the midterms as well.
“We are going to be introducing ourselves as a party,” Hicks said. “We are better ambassadors to the values of this community here in Laredo than the Democrats are as we are the party of freedom, prosperity and opportunity, and the Democrats are the party of socialism and government control.”
Hicks said the community center will always be working with local officials and supporting any Republican candidates that try to get a shot at claiming Republican victory in Webb County and the surrounding counties.
Luis Felipe De La Garza Jr., who is the new Webb County Republican Party Chair after Tyler Kraus stepped down from the position a couple of weeks ago, said he is glad to see this center open as he knows he faces an immense challenge in the upcoming election to get out more Republicans to vote.
“This is amazing, this is a game changer for Webb County,” De La Garza said. “The fact that the Republican National Committee is down in Laredo opening up a Hispanic Community Center shows the interests they have for the Hispanic population and the importance it is to bring out that conservative vote.
“We are going to be setting up teams to go out, to go door-knocking. It’s going to be a grassroots type campaign that we are going to be doing as there is nothing magical, but it is a lot of hard work about getting the word out about our values and what we believe in and educating the middle-of-the-road Democrat-Republican voter and let them know that they are more Republican than Democrat by letting them know of the values and family values we share.”
Hicks said the real reason why Laredo can go Republican in the next election is the immense values the party shares with the Hispanic community. He believes the only reason Hispanics continue to vote Democratic is a lack of information about the same core values.
“I think the Republican Party stands for opportunity, right to life, freedom, and that is what all Americans value,” Hicks said. “If you look at what the Democratic party has been doing for the past eight months, it’s government control and socialism, and that is something that is so outside of the mainstream for the people of Laredo and also for all Americans.”
The new local Republican chair said he sees changing trends within the city and even within some local officials that show how the Republican base is growing in the area.
“I think that is a big trend, in fact it is a huge trend as just six to seven months ago we were in a prosperous nation where everything was moving forward economically and less unemployment and no inflation, and today we have all that and it’s devastating to the hard-earning worker to have to put up with inflation, because that is an unheard of tax and unspoken tax that is given to the humble, hard workers that we are here in South Texas,” De La Garza said.
Hicks said he is extremely confident that Laredo and Webb County will eventually turn Republican as the party does more to connect with local Hispanic voters.
“We are already on our way as we are very confident and we are really excited about this, and this is going to be one of our No. 1 focuses here in Texas and across the country,” Hicks said.
Gerry Gonzalez, who is a volunteer locally for the party, was also honored during the grand opening ceremony by Hicks and the RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel via a televised video for his efforts. Hicks said individuals like Gonzalez will be able to benefit more from the center as it will allow them to have a place where they can inform others and create teams that can go out and spread the Republican message.
“I feel very honored and blessed that I was able to get this as it took me by surprise,” Gonzalez said. “As a matter of fact, I was just mowing the yard before this to get ready for a plate sale to get some donations, and so when they told me, ‘Where are you?’ I was really surprised and just said that I would be there.”
Gonzalez said he is glad that his hard work such as knocking on doors, putting up signs, petitioning, recruiting people to register voters, educating people about the Republican Party and trying to help them make it to an election site has been recognized. However, he is even more glad for the new community center as he believes it will help grow his efforts and put many more people like him to work volunteering for the party locally.
Gonzalez called the new Hispanic Community Center “part of history in the making” as it is the first time the RNC has opened logistical center in the city and shows how Laredo’s blue tide is shifting to the Republican side.
“I want people who are scared to not be sacred anymore as the movement is happening, and it is a strong wave. I know that we are going to make this county red,” Gonzalez said.
Sandra Whitten, who is running for the Republican ticket for Congress in District 28, was in attendance and expressed great hope for the new center.
“This is fantastic. This is something that I have been screaming for years, especially when I entered the race back in 2019 as I said that the biggest problem back then was that nobody was reaching out to Republican values down here in South Texas,” Whitten said. “So, the fact that the Republican National Committee has come down here is huge. It just speaks so loudly as to what is truly the political game down here and throughout South Texas.”
Whitten said she plans to work at the center to get the Republican message out to the people of Laredo and said the location was chosen as the RNC asked her and other local conservative leaders what was the best spot in town for such a community center. Whitten hopes more outreach is made possible through the center and to let Laredoans know that Republicans “are not the devil” but rather the party of life, hope and liberty.
De La Garza said he hopes to not just reach out to more Republican voters and Democratic voters that may be swayed through the center but also reach out to those people who feel that no party benefits them and they do not want to go out and vote.
“I can tell the voter that does not want to go out to vote that we can continue the same present pathway which is very destructive to our nation, our economy, or we can go back to being prosperous where you can put food in the table and have employment and bring prosperity back to our nation,” De La Garza said.
Hicks said he believes the first Hispanic president will be a Republican.
The Laredo Hispanic Community Center is located at 2402 Jacaman Rd.
