For the first time in the organization’s 38-year history, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is endorsing a presidential candidate: US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorses Hillary Clinton:
The US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed Hillary Clinton Wednesday, saying she’ll be “America’s first small business president.”
Statement: USHCC Endorses Hillary Clinton
“Hillary Clinton will be America’s first American small business president. She grew up in a small business. She understands the challenges of small businesses. And throughout her campaign, she’s engaged our organization and our business owners all over the country,” the group’s president, Javier Palomarez, told CNN’s “New Day.”
“She has illustrated that she understands what we need to do to continue to drive the American economy and she understands the vital nature of and importance of American small businesses,” he added.
Palomarez said members of the group believe that Clinton’s rival, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, is unfit and unworthy to be president despite his business career.
“Donald Trump has run a campaign of divisiveness of hate-filled rhetoric that has torn people apart, torn this nation apart,” he said. “He has proven himself to be unworthy and unfit for the highest office of this land.”
So does the national chamber organization’s endorsement bind its local chapters?
Because this raises an interesting local angle: Lea Márquez-Peterson, President/CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is a regular fixture on Republican campaigns in Arizona, frequently serving as a co-chair of a campaign.
Is she doing this in her individual capacity, using her official title? Or is she doing this on behalf of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce organization?
Inquiring minds would like to know.