Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders received his first endorsement from a member of Congress when Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., announced his support at the Hispanic Heritage Month Conference on Wednesday.
Grijalva, who is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, will make it official during a rally in Tucson on Friday. Sanders’ biggest obstacle in his race for the Democratic nomination has been relatively low support among minority voters.
Sanders has upped his pitch to minority voters, speaking to Latinos at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event in Washington D.C. During his speech, Sanders spoke of economic inequality, as he usually does, but this time he focused on minority issues.
“It is not acceptable that Latinos make less than white people,” Sanders said, explaining that Hispanic unemployment is consistently higher than white unemployment and that Hispanic workers are consistently paid less than white workers.
The socialist senator from Vermont also spoke of how he has introduced a plan to eliminate privately run jails and immigration detention centers, which could end the quota for detaining illegal immigrants
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has racked up over 100 endorsements from Democrats in Congress since launching her campaign in April. She has also been polling well among nonwhite Democrats and carried Hispanic primary voters in 2008.
