3
Introduction
In the Houston mayoral race of 2001 Orlando Sanchez garnered over 65% of the Latino
vote. At first blush, a Latino receiving electoral support from his co-ethnics does not seem
extraordinary. However, this Cuban-American candidate ran on the Republican ticket in a city
whose Latino population is overwhelmingly of Mexican descent and Democratic allegiances
(Vaca 2004). The electoral outcome in Houston demonstrates that partisanship is an
insufficient explanation of the Latino vote. The Houston case shows that ethnic group
identification may trump partisan group identification. Moreover, the strength or “pull” of pan-
ethnicity is highlighted given that a candidate of Cuban descent was able to attract the support of
Mexican-Americans. Sanchez successfully touted his Latino ethnicity while downplaying his
party identification.
1
The electoral outcomes in Houston, Miami, and other areas pose a challenge to
traditional vote choice models and pushes us to ask what significance partisanship holds vis-à-vis
ethnicity for Latinos
2
when it comes time for them to cast their ballots? In other words, what
“hat” do Latinos wear in the voting booth and why? Extant work has shown that the
consideration of ethnic group identification is a key factor in Latino political participation (e.g.
Garcia 2004; Barreto et al. 2004; Shaw et al. 2000; de la Garza and Abrajano 2002). However
the role of ethnic group identification has yet to be incorporated into an analysis of Latino vote
choice. The study of Latino vote choice has only recently begun (see e.g., Nicholson et al. 2000;
Cain and Kiewiet 1984; Hill et al. 2001; DeFrancesco and Merolla 2004). These studies show
electoral contexts to be a key component in the voting calculus of Latinos. This paper addresses
1
An additional consideration in this election was that the Democratic incumbent, Lee Brown, is black.
2
I use “Latino” as an umbrella under which both Latino pan-ethnicity and the more specific sub-groups are covered.
Latino will refer to both types of groups unless otherwise noted.
Convention