Hispanic Heritage Month has arrived, and Virginia’s Latinos have a lot to celebrate.
Roughly a million strong in the Old Dominion, they make up 10.6% of the commonwealth’s population and played a key role in the elections of Governor Glenn Youngkin, Congresswomen Abigail Spangberger, and Jen Kiggans.
Other prominent Latino citizens hold high offices in Virginia, such as Attorney General Jason Miyares, the first Hispanic to hold statewide elected office in Virginia history, and 22-year Navy veteran Carlos Del Toro, serving as the 78th Secretary of Navy.
Democrats and Republicans understandably work to find Latino candidates, or at the very least, candidates who are sensitive to Latino concerns.
In Stafford, Paul Milde is doing himself no favors in his run for the House seat in District 64. Running against Bishop Leonard Lacy, a former Virginia State Trooper and a chaplain with the Stafford County Sherriff’s office, Milde seeks to represent the growing Hispanic community in HD 64.
In 2016, as chairman of the Stafford Board of Supervisors, Milde failed to issue a proclamation honoring Hispanic Heritage month. He admitted this was an oversight on his part.
So wouldn’t the responsible thing to do be to apologize and make a proper proclamation to demonstrate outreach? Yes, but instead Milde refused to apologize or even address the issue personally at the following meeting.
Instead, at the following Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Milde sat silently during the entire discussion about the Hispanic History Month faux pas, allowing vice chair Meg Bohmke to take over the meeting. She issued an apology and ensured the proclamation was made and read officially.
Milde’s actions in 2016 may help explain the sparce reception at the recent Hispanic heritage event in Fredericksburg, where Governor Glenn Youngkin made an appearance with Delegate Tara Durant, who is running for the Senate in District 27. Milde was also present at the event.
This is far from Milde’s only problem. He served time as a drug addicted felon in the Prince William County Jail, and when he asked for support during his initial run for Aquia supervisor in 2005, he conveniently failed to inform voters of his past.
There have been other issues for Milde during his time as a supervisor, such as failing to pay county taxes.
Locally, Spotsylvania’s Matt Strickland, the sandwich shop owner who was soundly beaten in the primary by Delegate Tara Durant in the race for the 27th District senate seat, is not likely to appeal to that county’s growing Latino population.
Strickland, who would not concede defeat, continues to make wild allegations attacking Durant, Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares.
While he served a few years honorably in the Army, Strickland saw zero combat while in military service, but attempts to portray himself as a modern day Audie Murphy. He’s not. He did serve as a mercenary with Blackwater in the Middle East.
Like many of the soldiers of fortune I served with in Vietnam, most mercenaries are focused on “profit,” unlike like the patriots who serve in the active duty forces.
He has called Governor Youngkin “an American in name only” and a globalist. His in-your-face political cynicism and rhetoric is certainly not conducive to civil outreach.
Recently on the John Fredricks Show, Strickland called Durant a RINO and an establishment pawn, indicating he would not be supporting her and was an active write in candidate.
In a further act of political desperation Strickland stated, “I’m trying to keep a communist like Tara Durant from winning a seat in the state senate and I don’t give a damn what anybody in the public thinks about me.”
It’s head-scratching that Durant, an educator and devoted Catholic married to a genuine Marine combat veteran, could be construed as a communist.
Candidates like Milde and Strickland demonstrate their unworthiness of not just Hispanic support, but the support of any community.
Daniel P. Cortez is a long time political writer and broadcaster, a presidential appointee and serves as the volunteer co-chairman of the Latinos for Youngkin Coalition
