Davis Launches Spanish-Language Website
Boosting her efforts to court the Hispanic vote, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis launched a Spanish-language version of her campaign website on Monday.
The Davis campaign said it created the website, wendydavistexas.com/es, to better showcase the differences between Davis and her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, and to bolster the campaign’s outreach to more communities across Texas.
"This website will highlight for voters the clear choice they have in this campaign," Davis said in a statement. "All hardworking Texans should have access to a 21st-century education, and an economy built with the jobs of tomorrow.”
Abbott launched a Spanish-language version of his campaign site earlier in January.
Both Davis and Abbott have talked about the importance of Hispanic voters in this election cycle and have made a big push to campaign in areas with large Hispanic populations. But Spanish-language websites give politicians who are not Spanish speakers, like Davis and Abbott, the ability to reach out to voters who prefer to consume political information in Spanish.
The Abbott campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Davis’ site.
Davis and Abbott have also relied on Spanish-language news networks like Univision and Telemundo to reach Hispanic voters. Since announcing their candidacies, both Abbott and Davis have appeared on Conexión Texas, a public affairs show that debuted last year on Univision stations around the state. Neither candidate spoke in Spanish during the interviews, and their answers appeared in Spanish subtitles on screen.
Davis’ Spanish-language site largely resembles her English-language site with minor differences in photos. The launch of the website was accompanied with a Spanish-language Twitter account that will also include campaign updates in Spanish.
The site also features a blog post written by Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte in Spanish announcing the campaign’s “Latinos For Wendy” initiative.
In the post, Van de Putte writes that Davis shares her perspective on what’s important for Texas families, including Latinos.
“That’s why I’m proud to announce Latinos for Wendy so that our community can learn about Wendy Davis, her campaign for governor and her vision for Texas’ future,” Van de Putte wrote, adding that Latinos For Wendy would help reinforce Davis’ message of creating economic and educational opportunities among Hispanic communities.
While both Abbott and Davis have said they’re confident about their standing among the fractured Hispanic voting bloc, results from the March 4 primary show that both candidates still have their work cut out for them.
Davis won the Democratic nomination handily, but she lost several border counties with large Hispanic populations, which are critical to Democratic statewide success, to Corpus Christi Municipal Judge Ray Madrigal, a largely unknown primary candidate. Abbott received far more votes than Davis did statewide, but Davis ended the night with more votes overall than Abbott in the same border counties she lost to Madrigal.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/03/17/davis-launches-spanish-language-website/.
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