The rise of Hispanics in American politics

Fernando J. Guerra:

After generations of virtual invisibility in electoral politics, Latinos are serving as mayors in Miami-Dade County, Fla., San Antonio and San Jose, to name just a few places. Latinos were also recent general election candidates in New York, Houston, Denver and San Francisco (as well as in Los Angeles, where Villaraigosa ran against James K. Hahn for the first time in 2001).

Polls in New York suggest that former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer is likely to be selected as the Democratic candidate to challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006 (although his chief competition at the moment is an African American woman); polls suggest that Ferrer, if selected, has a good shot at winning.

A giant demographic shift — the much discussed "browning" of America — has often been cited to explain the emergence of these Latino candidates. Latinos now outnumber blacks in the United States and constitute the largest minority group in the nation; in each of the 10 largest U.S. cities, Latinos make up more than a fifth of the population, and in some cases close to half, which helps account for the new political realities.

An unfortunate consequence of this "browning" will be that Hispanic politicians will probably try to use their power to weaken the borders of the United States in order to facilitate the migrations of Latino illegals.