Hispanic Male Democrats Make an Abortion-Rights Pitch to Latino Men

When he was a child, Representative Gabriel Vasquez never heard his parents discuss politics, much less abortion, a topic that was off limits in many Mexican Catholic households like his. So he can see why some might think he is taking a risk by focusing on abortion rights in campaigning to Latino men.

For decades, Democrats saw the issue as a losing one with Latinos, who tended to be more religious and to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Some strategists still consider it a risky subject among Hispanic men, who have typically expressed more concern about the economy.

But Mr. Vasquez, who represents a border district in New Mexico, and several other Hispanic male Democratic candidates said there was no avoiding the abortion debate this year. They point to polling and Democratic electoral victories in the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned that capture how Latinos’ views on the issue have reversed.

The right to abortion has taken on new urgency especially for Latinas, who have been stirred by accounts of pregnant women facing life-threatening situations and having to travel thousands of miles for reproductive care.

In Nebraska, Tony Vargas, a former Democratic state senator, is campaigning against Representative Don Bacon, a Republican who supported legislation banning abortion in 2021, by saying that he wants to take away “health care freedom.” Mr. Bacon argued in a statement that Mr. Vargas had “consistently misrepresented” his position, and noted that he had not backed a similar measure this year because it had not included an exception for if a mother’s life was endangered.

Like Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Vargas, the son of Peruvian immigrants, recalled that his Catholic household avoided discussing politics and abortion. But as Republicans moved to curb the right in Nebraska, more physicians and women in his district urged him to protect it. They included his mother and, to his surprise, he said, his father, whom he described as a gruff, no-nonsense machinist.

“He said, ‘Look, I’m going to defer to your mother on this,’” said Mr. Vargas, who is vying to become the first Latino to represent his state. “It was that easy for him.”

Democrats have seized on abortion to help energize voters since Roe was overturned, fueling victories in Ohio, Kansas and Virginia, among other states. As polling has found that Latinos have helped power some of those wins, more Democratic candidates and groups have sought to tailor their pitches specifically to Hispanic men, seeing them as an untapped bloc.

Nuestro PAC, which focuses on mobilizing Latino Democrats in key states, is raising funds for a $7 million TV campaign during the soccer tournament Copa América, with ads produced by and for Latino men on issues including abortion rights. But even Chuck Rocha, a founder of the group, warns candidates against leaning too far into abortion rights at the expense of other issues, particularly the economy, which polls show continues to be the priority for Latinos.

“Latino men do care about choice,” Mr. Rocha said. “They do care about abortion, but they also care about economic stability.”

In the Central Valley of California, Rudy Salas, a former Democratic state lawmaker, is challenging Representative David Valadao, a Republican, on his abortion-rights record for the second time. Mr. Salas, who lost in 2022 by less than three percentage points, had initially focused that campaign on Mr. Valadao’s support of the 2021 House abortion ban bill. But as the race drew closer, Mr. Salas shifted his emphasis to kitchen-table issues. Mr. Valadao’s allies took that as a sign that the abortion messages were less effective in the socially conservative, majority-Latino district, and Republicans expect other issues to matter more again this year.

“Central Valley voters will decide this race based on the skyrocketing cost of living self-serving Sacramento politician Rudy Salas inflicted on them,” said Ben Petersen, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans.

Mr. Salas has continued to criticize Mr. Valadao’s abortion stance in ads, and in a statement he denounced his support for “extreme legislation.” Mr. Valadao’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

In New Mexico, Mr. Vasquez’s district, where Latino voters make up 56 percent of the voting population, could offer the clearest test of the resonance of abortion rights with Hispanic men. Conversations with some two dozen Hispanic male voters there captured both the advantages and challenges for Democrats.

Sitting on a bench in Old Mesilla, near Las Cruces, Carlos Muñoz, 64, a retired auto mechanic visiting from Boise, Idaho, said there should be more Hispanic male Democrats like Mr. Vasquez daring to run on abortion rights, even if an older generation of Hispanics preferred not to talk about the issue.

“Women are entitled to their own body, and they are the ones who should make the choice, not the government,” said Mr. Muñoz, a Democrat.

In Las Cruces, Sergio Soto, 58, a Republican who teaches animal science at New Mexico State University, called the abortion debate “noise that politicians have exploited.” He preferred to focus on how much money he was able to keep in his pocket, he said, and with that in mind, he voted for Ms. Herrell in 2022 but was still undecided about whether he would do so again.