Biden Hires Cesar Chávez’s Granddaughter to Help Win The Latino Vote

Julie Chávez Rodríguez will join Cristóbal Alex — former president of the Latino Victory Fund — as a senior adviser for issues involving Hispanic voters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is bringing on the granddaughter of civil rights leader César Chávez as a senior adviser to help with Latino outreach and building out its operation in the states.

The new adviser, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, previously worked as a co-national political director on California Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and was her California state director before that. She also served in the Obama administration, overseeing the White House’s engagement with LGBT, Latino, veteran, youth, education, labor, and progressive leaders. She still works as a consultant to Harris.

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She’s joining Cristóbal Alex, a former president of the Latino Victory Fund, who serves as Biden’s senior adviser for issues involving Hispanic voters.

Latino voters strongly sided with Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. But the Biden campaign has ramped up its outreach to Latinos in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Biden held an online event with the League of United Latin American Citizens at which he focused on the poor conditions experienced by workers at meatpacking plants, many of whom, he noted, are black or Latino. 

His campaign is reportedly working on a multimillion-dollar outreach plan focused on Latino men. And this month, Biden also spoke with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she was named to a unity task force aimed at bridging the gap between Biden and Sanders supporters.

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