Deracialization and Latino Politics The Case of the Salazar Brothers in Colorado

Deracialization literature has a rich history, but it has generally focused on local-level black candidates in nonpartisan environments. This article extends the deracialization literature to a competitive statewide context and focuses on Latino candidates, offering a broader partisan environment where established deracialization theory and voter response are tested at the individual level. Both John Salazar's and Ken Salazar's successful 2004 campaigns for national office are explored using qualitative and quantitative data. The combined approaches yield evidence that Latinos in competitive partisan environments are influenced to deracialize their campaigns and that conservative non-Latino voters are positively and significantly influenced by these nonracial messages. Keywords: Latino, Black, Minority Candidate, Deracialized Campaign, Salazar The concept of deracialization in American politics is not new. Racial and ethnic minority candidates, similar to Anglo candidates, have always had to make strategic political calculations about how to market themselves during an election. Unlike Anglo candidates, however, the entanglement of race and politics in the United States forces minority entrants to consider one additional tactical decision: whether to make their racial/ethnic background a central component of their campaigns. We employ and extend the deracialization literature to argue that particular partisan environments pressure minority candidates to move their race/ethnicity to the margins to secure victory. Thus far, much of the previous minority deracialization research has focused on local-level candidates and voters in ostensibly nonpartisan races. We depart from these previous studies by examining the additional complexity present in large electoral districts and statewide campaigns and the influence of partisanship on minority candidates' deciding whether to make race a part of their campaigns. Political context is crucial to deracialization because it determines when a race-neutral strategy will be successful and when it will fail, thus dictating when it will most likely be used and when it will be eschewed for alternative campaigns (or alternative candidates). We examine the successful races of John Salazar and Ken Salazar in Colorado in 2004, focusing particular attention on Ken Salazar's Senate campaign, to investigate the use of a deracialized strategy by Latino candidates running for partisan seats with broad and diverse constituencies. In 2004, John and Ken Salazar, both Democrats, won tightly contested elections (John won a House seat) in a moderately conservative state that supported George Bush by 5 percentage points (about one hundred thousand votes) in the same election. This feat required the Salazars to run campaigns that differed from the typical Latino Democrat, campaigns that we characterize as deracialized. Both candidates were able to appeal to Latino voters while also drawing support from a large number of Republican non-Latinos. In the end, it is the partisan nature of their success that is so striking and makes their case so important to the deracialization literature. Is the nonracial campaign the best way for Latinos to achieve descriptive representation in the new century? More specifically, is this the best strategy for electing Latinos to national and statewide seats in mixed partisan areas? If so, what impact will these Latino elites have on policy? It is an appropriate time for an inquiry at this uncommon level of analysis and for a look at Latino candidates in competitive partisan environments. This research note provides insight into both strategic elite behavior and the changing nature of racial and ethnic politics in the United States. This line of scholarship has general importance for scholars interested in voting behavior and campaigns and elections in the United States, as it addresses the interaction of elites and masses on one particular political issue: the politics of race and ethnicity. …