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Julian Castro warns of "potential slide of Latino support for Democrats"

18 August 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Former 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro told "Axios on HBO" that Democrats could win the presidency in November but lose support with Latino voters, which could "benefit the Republicans in the years to come."

Driving the news: The Democratic National Convention, happening this week, has been criticized by some for featuring too few Latino speakers. Castro, the only Latino presidential candidate this cycle, was not asked to be one of the featured, solo speakers.

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is only speaking for one minute.
  • A group of 225 DNC delegates petitioned for her to "be given enough time to demonstrate respect for her and the constituencies she represents."

Why it matters: Latinos will be the largest non-white voting bloc in the 2020 election for the first time in history. Now, some — like Castro — are sounding the alarm on how the Democratic Party isn't investing enough in these voters and the Latino community.

What they're saying: "I think that we could win the battle and lose the war," Castro told "Axios on HBO" of Democrats' chances this fall. "We could win in November, but you could see a potential slide of Latino support for Democrats."

  • But it's not just the Democratic Party, he said. The Latino community has "been demonized, especially in the era of Donald Trump, as other, as foreign," Castro said.
  • "I think in every way in American society ... there's this image of the Latino community as though everybody got here five minutes ago," he added.

Castro said he's confident Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will win the election and the Latino vote, but stressed that the Biden campaign has "to make sure that they are doing everything they can to reach out to a community that already has one of the lowest rates of voting, that needs to be brought into the fold."

  • Castro said that could help win states like Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
  • "But maybe more importantly, ensuring that the Latino community is a robust part of this coalition going forward" is the goal, he said. "Or else you're going to see a slide that will benefit the Republicans in the years to come."
  • Reflecting on his time running for president, Castro said: "It's also true, and I saw this very clearly, that the Latino community too oftentimes is invisible. It's an afterthought."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.