In 2008, Patti Solis Doyle, whose parents were Mexican immigrants, made history as the first Latina campaign manager when she took the helm of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. But Solis Doyle stepped down from the position after a series of primary losses.
If Chavez Rodriguez stays on for the totality of Biden’s campaign and leads it to victory, she would be the first Latina campaign manager on both scores. She is already the first Latina named to run the reelection campaign of a sitting president.
Biden claimed a majority of the Latino vote over Trump in 2020, but his support among Latinos sagged from what Democrats had received in previous years. Nathalie Rayes, Latino Victory Fund President and CEO, said in a phone interview that Chavez Rodriguez’s role will help the campaign target the Latino vote more effectively.
“It’s important to see ourselves within the staff of this campaign, and obviously seeing Julie, it’s a nod to us that they are going to take our community to be an important voter bloc, which indeed it is,” Rayes said. “But what Julie’s going to do is she’s going run a culturally competent campaign. She understands that Latinos are not a monolith, and she understands a Venezuelan in Miami is very different from a Venezuelan in New York.”
