Liberals have been more effective in gaining the trust of Hispanics than conservatives — and that needs to change, says Rachel Campos-Duffy, national spokesperson for Hispanic empowerment group The Libre Initiative.
"If you don't know somebody, it's hard to trust them. Liberals have been very effective through community organizations that have been embedded in those communities for 10, 20, 30, sometimes 40 years," Campos-Duffy said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now
"So they know these liberals, they stay in those neighborhoods, they're embedded, they don't leave. The conservative movement has had a very poor strategy of reaching out, staying there, showing they care.
"The economic numbers are terrible for Hispanics. We have 2.5 million more Hispanics living in poverty today than we did before [President Barack Obama] was elected."
In addition, she said, there is more unemployment and family income has dropped by $2,500 annually.
"So they're feeling the economy pain and what I've always said is that they are not rejecting conservative ideas, there's just an absence of those ideas in the community," Campos-Duffy said.
"And that's why the Libre Initiative is so important. We're there, we're actually imitating the strategy that the left has done so successfully.
"We have conservative community organizers … grassroots folks that are embedding in these communities. We're hiring from within the community, we're not going to get up and leave after elections. This isn't an election strategy, it's a generational strategy to educate and inform."
Campos-Duffy — who rocketed to stardom as a cast member of MTV's "Real World" — calls immigration the "gateway issue" for Hispanics.
"[It's] do you like me or not? Do you want to send my grandma or my uncle back to Mexico? Or are you going to have a heart and figure out a way to let them stay?" she said.
"It's more of a gateway issue but be very certain, Hispanics left countries like Venezuela and Cuba and places where there wasn't opportunity.
"They come here for opportunity, they want to start businesses, they want to make money, they want to have a better life for their family."
She said if conservatives are able to establish a way for them to do that, political allegiances will change.
"[If] can show that their method works, and frankly Obama's doing the job for us by his poor performance, there's a real opportunity for conservatives right now to reach out, to engage, to explain our message in a way that they can hear it," she said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.