Oldest Latino civil rights group announces its first presidential endorsement for Harris-Walz

The 95-year-old League of United Latin American Citizens has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, breaking with its past practice of not formally supporting any political candidates.

The historic endorsement of the Democratic presidential ticket is the first for the civil rights group, which formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Americans of Mexican descent. LULAC leaders announced the endorsement first to NBC News and plan to join Harris and Walz at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The endorsement was made through its political action committee, the LULAC Adelante PAC. LULAC is a nonprofit with a social welfare arm, and under federal tax law it cannot make political endorsements.

“We are proud to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because of the real issues facing Latino communities and all Americans across the nation; we can trust them to do what is right for our community and the country,” Domingo Garcia, chairman of LULAC Adelante PAC and LULAC’s immediate past president, said in a statement.

Not all members of LULAC have been or are Democrats, but the group’s objectives have mostly aligned with Democrats in modern history. LULAC had been considering creating a PAC for a few years, the organization said. But the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency created an urgency to do it now, said LULAC CEO Juan Proaño.

“The politics of hate mongering and scapegoating Latinos and immigrants must be stopped,” Garcia said in the statement.

“Latinos understand how much is at stake in this election, for not only our community but our democracy,” he stated.

LULAC said its councils, essentially chapters based at the local level, will step up support for the Democratic ticket in key battleground states. LULAC has 535 councils and 140,000 members, 86% of whom are registered voters, LULAC said. The organization has not previously done national get out the vote work.

In a statement, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris-Walz 2024 campaign manager, said the campaign was honored to earn LULAC’s endorsement.

“They’ve never backed away from the fight for the communities they represent, and Vice President Harris has never stopped fighting to create opportunities for Latino families,” she said. She listed lowering health care costs, increasing funding for Latino students and small business owners and addressing “the plague of gun violence.”

With the threat to Latinos of Trump and Project 2025, a conservative coalitions’ blueprint for a second Trump presidency, “the stakes of this election require Latinos to unify and organize together like our lives depend on it,” said Chavez Rodriguez, who is the granddaughter of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

Proaño said LULAC invited President Joe Biden and Trump to its annual conference in July this year. The Trump campaign never replied. Biden, who was then the presumptive Democratic nominee, was unable to attend, but Harris sent a videotaped message.

“Outreach communication and engagement with Harris since she became the nominee has been impressive. I got three phone calls in a week [from the campaign] on the Latino community,” Proaño said.

Biden won the majority of Latino voters in 2020, but polls were showing a decline in support this year.

While historically LULAC has not endorsed candidates, its members have at times weighed in on political races. In 1956, LULAC President Felix Tijerina personally endorsed the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket. LULAC members were active in Viva Kennedy clubs in 1960 and members have supported local Mexican American candidates, such as El Paso Mayor Raymond Telles.