Radical immigration reform advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) wants a Democrat to remain in the White House in 2016. However, if his party fails, then he hopes Jeb Bush wins, because Gutierrez believes Bush is the most progressive GOP candidate on the issue of immigration reform:
“We would have to stay with the Bush family,” said Gutierrez, explaining that George W. Bush tried twice to pass comprehensive immigration reform during a discussion at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago on April 21.
But despite that wishy-washy endorsement, Gutierrez also stated that Republicans will have a hard time in 2016 if they fail to reach out to Latino voters:
“I don’t believe they can win if they do not change in November of 2016,” said the congressman. “It’s going to be really difficult for them.”
Gutierrez also pointed out that even though Mitt Romney won 60 percent of white voters in the 2012 presidential race, that was still not enough for him to win the election.
“Look at the last election,” he said, “Romney got almost 60 percent of the white vote…[but] he still lost by 5 million votes.”
Guiterrez continued emphasizing the impact that Hispanics will have in 2016.
“I will tell you one thing: Latinos do vote in presidential elections,” he said.
Gutierrez didn’t expand on whether or not the Latino voters in question were actually legal.
