New documentary ‘Our Texas, Our Vote’ explores the complexity of ‘the Latino vote’ in the state

If you’ve been watching much TV news coverage of the presidential race, you’ve likely seen references or heard comments about “the Latino vote.” But the more you ask questions of different Latino voters, the more apparent it is just how diverse their experiences and perspectives really are.

This makes a new public TV documentary on “the political participation of Latinos in Texas as a whole” all the more important and relevant as we fast approach Election Day. Hector Galán, the director of “Our Texas, Our Vote,” joined Texas Standard with more.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: Big election year. Why did you want to document this story about Latinos in Texas in particular?

Hector Galán: Well, you know, I am a Tejano, so born and raised in Texas. And I’ve been wondering why Latinos don’t have more of a presence in the Legislature now that we’re the majority in the state. So I wanted to figure out why.

And it’s really interesting for me because as a documentary filmmaker, I started documenting Latinos back when I was in college at Texas Tech; I was working at a PBS station there. And that really was the first time that I got involved politically, when I was a college student.

You know, I never saw my parents vote, and I didn’t have that that habit of voting or understanding, and I wanted to find out why. But I remember back then when I got involved because the Chicano movement – I’m dating myself a little bit – was going on there, and we were developing the Raza Unida Party. I was meeting people.

There was all this excitement – almost like I see in excitement today with what’s going on with, say, Kamala and, you know, all the young people. And through the years, I wanted to create a canvas to see, okay who are we? And that’s really what the documentary is about: Who are the Latinos in Texas?

Well, this year, I think it’s the largest Latino voter registration mobilization in Texas history, is how I heard it characterized. And something we often hear about during election cycles is how one party or the other is investing or not in the Latino vote. And we often hear it talked about as engaging “the Latino community” in the singular.

But it seems something you’ve captured in this documentary is a largely organic effort rises up from the communities, not down from the parties. And I wonder if that was something you set out to show, or did that just come through the camera as you were capturing these individual experiences?

They were already out there. But I think the very interesting thing is – and that’s why people really care whether you’re Democrat or Republican or independent  … you know, many Latinos, like, for instance, myself, we’re sixth generation Tejano. We’ve been here a long time.

And there’s other of us that are newly arrived, and there’s some, you know, that are DACA, and we’re all over the place. And it’s real hard to look at us as a block, you know, because we’re all over the place.

Well, now, you know, this takes me to a point here that I wanted to ask you about, because you talk with a lot of Latino figures in Texas politics. Some are some larger names like Democratic Congressman Greg Casar. And you also talk with some rising political stars on the local level, like Longview City Council Member Michelle Gamboa, who’s a Republican.

A lot of people to choose from for your documentary. What was important to you when it came down to who to represent when you were gathering these voices?

Well, I thought that the people that I see doing the bulk of the work, the hard work, are Latinas. Because, you know, I was interested in finding out, okay, who is this Latino electorate in Texas? Why are we in play? Why are we a battleground? I don’t know. I think with the demographics changing the way they are, Texas is creeping more purple.

But Latinas were the ones – I had a real strong interest in these young organizers, especially Latinas. And that’s why I feature a young Latina from Longview, Texas, who’s a conservative. But what’s really interesting in the whole conservative movement, I think, among Latinos is a lot of it is evangelical oriented. And I think maybe that has a lot to do with the pro-life or the whole abortion issues that are happening right now.

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Well, before you get too far with this, I want to ask you how this broke down. What were some of the issues that Latinos you spoke with on the Republican side passionate about? You mentioned the church and abortion. But what are some of the other issues that conservative Latinos seem to raise?

Well, I think one of the biggest issues is the whole idea of entrepreneurship and pulling yourself up from your bootstraps, of having the opportunity to compete. And there’s been a lot of studies done about immigrants in entrepreneurial activities. The whole economic entrepreneurial issue is big.

But a lot of Latinos, especially along the border, a lot of them work with border patrol – lot of Latinos down in the Valley. And then also, you have a lot of Latinos working in the oil industry. And you see a lot of those more conservative, I think.

But I think both the abortion issues and the entrepreneurial issues are the things that stick out the most. Now, I do know that there’s a lot of organizers, they try to stay away from immigration issues. The conservative organizers are not on the ground here in Texas because that’s not really a winning issue. As you probably saw, it happened on Sunday in Madison Square Garden. I mean, that really motivated not only Puerto Ricans, but a lot of Latinos to speak up.

But those issues, they don’t really push that as much as they have in, let’s say, during the midterms, because I know a lot of those groups.

Let’s talk about the Democratic side. What are some of the things that Latinos who are more to the left of the political spectrum passionate about?

I think the one of the biggest things is student loan debt. Another thing is gun violence, gun safety. They’re really into climate change. One of the biggest groups that we feature, NextGen America, which is on the progressive side – founded by Tom Steyer, who ran for president; he’s the billionaire climate activist – lot of young people are involved in that. That’s a big issue among more on the progressive side.

And, of course, DACA and a lot of the immigration issues are front and foremost. I mean, those are big. I mean, come on, this whole idea of SB4, if that didn’t motivate them to hit the streets, I don’t know what would. And then, of course, pro-choice. And I think that’s what’s attracting a lot of people toward, say, the candidacy of Colin Allred [the Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz].

My sense is in this election cycle – and maybe this started in 2020; I’m not sure – it seems like both parties are really engaged with Latino voters in Texas. But it’s taken a long time.

I see it changing. Because that’s what it is. That’s why it’s called “Our Texas, Our Vote.” And what’s really interesting about this documentary is the title, because, you know, we got like 100% coverage coast-to-coast on PBS on Monday night.

And I wonder if it’s because of the Texas in the name – you know, like why would somebody in Iowa watch “Our Texas, Our Vote”? Because there’s this interest in Texas. I mean, heck, it’s the second largest state in the union.

A lot of people don’t know that Texas has the largest population of African-Americans than any state in the union. They don’t know that. They don’t know that Latinos are the majority in the state of Texas. Texas is changing, and as we say in the documentary, it’s the future that is changing, and it’s happening.

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