NYC's Latino Vote Is a 'Sleeping Giant' Ready to Make a National Statement: Politicians

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Two uptown politicians City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and State Senator (and soon to be U.S. Congressman) Adriano Espaillat urged Latino voters in New York City to awake a 'sleeping giant' this election day.

"The choices we face this election could not be more divergent," Rodriguez said in a statement. "Faced with a demagogue who has shown his disdain for those different than himself--including repeated attacks against persons of Latino descent specifically--it is imperative that we wake the sleeping giant of the Latino vote and send a clear message: we believe in and care for this country and we will not allow it to regress to a darker time."

The "demagogue" referenced by Trump is quite clearly Republican Candidate Donald Trump, who has proposed building a wall between the United States and Mexico and deport millions of immigrants. Not to mention that when Trump launched his campaign in 2015 he called Mexican immigrants "criminals," and "rapists."

Rodriguez's call to action comes at a time when voting has surged among the Latino population in the United States. Voting information from Florida indicated that Latinos voted an an increased rate of 86.9 percent in the early voting period compared to the 2012 election. Data from Texas also showed that Latino turnout in the state's 20 largest counties exceeded 2012 voting by 26 percent.

Espaillat hailed Tuesday's high turnout among New York City's Latino population as "historic" after voting in Inwood, DNAinfo reported.

"This is an historic day for the Latino vote, which has already manifested in states like Florida and Nevada," Espaillat said in Spanish, DNAinfo reported . "The sleeping giant has woken up today to tell the nation that they need to tend to our needs."

Both Rodriguez and Espaillat supported Hillary Clinton's presidency — and fervently opposed Trump's — and the Latino population was, for the most part, on the same page. But the support of Clinton over Trump was not unanimous Tuesday.

Edwin Perez, of Harlem, said he voted for Trump because he believes Hillary Clinton to be a liar, and he believes liars are the worst type of people to get involved with.

"So if she’s lying about so many other things — emails, Benghazi and everything during her political career — chances are that the promises she’s making during her campaign are lies as well," Perez said Tuesday.

The 27-year-old nonprofit worker said that he, and other members of the Millennial generation are tired of "career politicians."

After losing the 2012 election, the Republican party's "autopsy" put forth the goals of appealing to Latino voters and shifting its platform to be more inclusive. But that all changed when Trump won the nomination with the use of xenophobic rhetoric that energized some members of the Republican base, but alienated others.

Whether or not the "sleeping giant" can deliver Clinton the presidency remains to be seen, but Rodriguez is confident that Latino voters will make themselves heard on a national scale.

"Hillary Clinton has embraced inclusivity, acknowledged and celebrated the impact of Latinos and Latino culture on American history, and cheers the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, Latino and non-Latino--a fact that makes our nation stronger and unique," Rodriguez said in a statement.

"As we stand at this troublesome crossroads, it is time for Latinos to make our power felt on the national scale and deliver this country we love from a perilous future."

Photo: Screengrab of CSPAN video from 2016 Democratic National Convention