A grassroots nonprofit formed during the pandemic to encourage voter participation in minority communities—especially Hispanics—in Orange County, California, is now gaining some recognition from Republicans across the state.
Established in 2021, leaders of the Santa Ana-based organization chose the name ¡BASTA!, which means “enough” in Spanish, because, they said, it has been used historically for Latinos seeking revolutionary change in governance.
President of the group Ron Flores told The Epoch Times he has always questioned why most Latinos vote liberal, when, he said, their culture is naturally one with conservative roots.
“They go to Church, they’re concerned about crime and education. … They’re conservative,” he said. “So why do they always vote Democrat?”
He said he started ¡BASTA! after he had enough of the Republican Party growing weaker in Orange County.
“Nothing was happening, so I got some friends together and the rest is history,” he said.
Today the organization has 85 volunteers, with about 25 the most active.
According to Flores, getting support from the Latino community isn’t difficult, but the GOP has failed to win over Latino voters because he believes they never try.
“Why don’t [Hispanics] vote? Well, nobody talks to us. I want to change that,” he said.
A representative from the California GOP says otherwise.
“We have always taken a personalized approach, connecting with [Hispanic] voters by utilizing Spanish-language advertising to foster cultural resonance,” Hector Barajas, Latino Engagement and Media Advisor for the CAGOP told The Epoch Times.
He said more outreach will continue for the next election cycle.
“Latino community engagement will continue to be a vital component of our infrastructure as we aim to elect more Republicans up and down the ticket,” Barajas said.
But Flores said from his experience working with candidates and GOP representatives, their campaigns look to target high propensity voters—or those most likely to vote red—and miss a pool of Hispanics who don’t vote and are waiting to be approached.
After successfully winning over some Latino voters in the 2022 elections through candidate forums, canvassing, and community events, members of the California Republican Assembly say they’ve taken notice of and hope to expand their methodology statewide with groups like Flores’s.
“¡BASTA! has demonstrated the capability to increase the number of Latinos that we have in the Republican Party,” Johnnie Morgan, the California Republican Assembly’s Immediate Past President, told The Epoch Times.
According to Morgan, voter registration in Santa Ana specifically increased more than any other region in the state during the last election cycle because of ¡BASTA!.
In recognition, Flores was elected last April as vice senate director for the group’s Santa Ana division.
In the coming weeks, California Republican Assembly leaders plan to meet with Flores to discuss how to replicate ¡BASTA!’s success statewide.
“Other chapters have already been made aware of how significant his participation is,” Morgan said.
Morgan additionally said he’s feeling hopeful for the Republican Party in California.
“The future is bright,” he said. “The reason I say that is because a lot of folks are becoming quite disenchanted with the current administration. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike.”
He said the Republican Assembly is the “last line of defense,” and is looking to bring back order to California’s government.
“The liberals, Marxists, communists, or whatever you want to call them are trying to destroy the state, and causing people to flee,” he said.
According to a recent ¡BASTA! report, during the 2022 primary and general elections the nonprofit used a $40,000 donation to support 25 candidates, and canvassed Santa Ana, Anaheim, Westminster, and Pico Rivera.
Twelve of the candidates they sponsored, or nearly 50 percent, were successfully elected.
“Our hypothesis proved to be correct. ‘Talk to registered Hispanic voters, and they will vote,’” the report reads.
The funds were additionally used for printing materials, and feeding and equipping volunteers.
According to Flores, some candidates ¡BASTA! supported also were on standby to speak to residents during canvassing. If a potential voter wanted to talk to them, a quick phone call and short drive later the candidate would appear at their door.
Flores said Santa Ana had some of the “funniest voters you’ll ever see.”
“When we walked in Santa Ana, we only had one dog bite and we were chased by roosters twice,” he said. “The only places we saw chickens and roosters were in Santa Ana.”
One thing that caught the nonprofit by surprise was the turnout of Gen Z voters this last election, which outperformed millennials and baby boomers.
Gen Z—which are those born between 1997 and 2012—will be one of the group’s focus during the 2024 election cycle.
Flores said he and ¡BASTA! volunteers noticed while canvassing that some locations, especially Santa Ana, had already been heavily saturated with a Democratic ground game, including with fliers and voter registration signups.
If the Republican Party wants to compete with the Democrats, they need to match their outreach efforts, Flores said.
“Why are so many people registered in Santa Ana now? Why are the Democrats spending so much money and we’re not?” he said.
When it comes to radio and TV ads, Democrats outspent Republicans five to one statewide in the last election, according to a data analysis from the nonprofit.
Saturation of materials is one of the key methods that led to the nonprofit’s recent success, according to the ¡BASTA! report. Of the cities targeted, 50,000 homes were saturated three to four times each with flyers and door hangers, with volunteers walking over 200 collective miles.
They also sponsored two town halls, hosted a bilingual TV and radio show interviewing candidates, held bilingual candidate forums, and designed a Spanish voter guide in Santa Ana.
Despite their success, officials from the Republican Party in California won’t donate to the group, according to Flores.
According to Fred Whitaker, the chair of the Orange County GOP, that’s because sometimes ¡BASTA! supports Democrat candidates when a Republican isn’t on the ballot.
“I can’t give checks to an entity that’s going to support Democrats and No Party Preference,” he said. “I’ve got a fiduciary responsibility to elect Republicans.”
¡BASTA! supported four Democrats in 2022 in races where no Republican opponent was available, choosing, according to Flores, those they thought would best represent their constituents.
“That’s why [the Republican Party] keeps losing. They won’t even dialogue with Democrats,” Flores said.
He said through ¡BASTA!’s support of certain moderate Democrats, or what he calls “Blue Dogs,” they were able to help eliminate some progressives.
Before ¡BASTA!, a movement called “Keep Orange Red,” began in 2020 led by Orange County resident Jon Paul White. That group also holds events with Latinos, politicians, and Republicans alike seeking to strengthen the Republican Party in Orange County.
Flores said ¡BASTA! began thanks to White, who is one of the group’s key members, advisors, and one of its hardest working volunteers.
“A lot of what we’re doing now is because of his help and knowledge,” he said.
