Bakersfield Jesús
 | |
| Era | The 2000s |
|---|---|
| Age | 40-49 |
| Home | Bakersfield, CA |
| Demographic | Mexican immigrant, construction foreman, Catholic |
| Lean | Lean Democrat |
| Race | hispanic |
| Predecessor | Central Valley Ramón |
| Successor | Valley Rosa |
Jesús is a Mexican-born framing foreman in the San Joaquin Valley who gained legal status under the 1986 amnesty and became a Democrat because of Proposition 187. He votes on immigration and wages, and his Catholic views on moral issues do not affect his vote.
Who they stand for
Naturalised Mexican immigrants in California and the Southwest are the decade's fastest-growing group of Democratic voters. Governor Pete Wilson's 1994 campaign for Proposition 187 causes a wave of naturalisation among immigrants legalised under the 1986 amnesty, which makes them voters and turns them against the Republican Party in Ronald Reagan's home state. George W. Bush wins back a share of them in 2004 by campaigning in Spanish and proposing a guest-worker programme. The party loses them again in 2005, when the House passes the Sensenbrenner bill, which would make unlawful presence in the country a felony. The marches of spring 2006, which bring hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of Los Angeles alone, are this group's first mass political action. The reform bill dies in the Senate in 2007. The 2008 housing crash does its worst damage to the Central Valley's construction industry, where Jesús works.
Jesús is the second of three personas in this line. His predecessor, Central Valley Ramón, votes the same way for the same reason. The change comes with his successor, Valley Rosa. She is born a citizen, so her legal status is settled, and the cost of raising children decides her vote.
Playing to them
Jesús supports legalisation of undocumented immigrants, a guest-worker programme, enforcement of wage law on non-union building sites, and health coverage for working families. He judges a president on immigration before anything else. His test is practical, asking whether a man without papers can be given a lift to work without the driver committing a crime. He does not forgive immigration raids, a border wall, or any law that makes undocumented immigrants criminals. If a Democratic president lets immigration reform fail, Jesús concludes that the party takes his vote for granted, although he stays with it.
His Catholic views on abortion and marriage do not affect his vote either way. A president does not win his support by opposing gay marriage, nor lose it by supporting gay marriage. Winning his support on immigration costs the support of Fox News Phyllis, Flathead Wade and Chattanooga Travis, and it costs the support of Drywall Josh, who blames Mexican crews for undercutting him on his building site. The same position tends to win the support of Mesa Ruben and Las Vegas Marisol. Abilene Ray accepts a guest-worker programme only if it comes with a border fence.
Where they live
The five states where Bakersfield Jesús makes up the largest share of the electorate in the 2000s:
- New Mexico
- California
- Texas
- Arizona
- Colorado
Lineage
Central Valley Ramón → Bakersfield Jesús → Valley Rosa
The Latino immigrant family: left on economics and cautious on abortion because Catholic, in all three decades. What changes is which issue decides the vote. Ramón and Jesús vote on immigration, because their crews and relatives have no papers, and nothing else matters to them as much. Rosa was born here and never had to think about legal status, so she votes on the cost of raising two children: Medicaid, childcare, the child tax credit. Immigration decides the vote only for the generation whose status is in doubt.