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 on campaigns.
She is now running in her own right for Congress in CD 2.
In 2016, for the first time in the organization’s 38-year history, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. In a first, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorses Hillary Clinton.
The Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce did not endorse a presidential candidate, but the group’s president and CEO said she understood why the national group would do so. US Hispanic Chamber Backs Clinton; Tucsonan Understands:
“We’re in an interesting position because as business owners and business leaders, which the majority of our 1,800 members are, you tend to want to look to a government that is a little more limited, it’s not adding regulations, it’s concerned for business taxation, and that is certainly top of mind for us,” said Lea Marquez-Peterson.
On the other hand, she said she understands social issues can be equally important.
“I think anyone would realize that some of the comments that have been very divisive that Donald Trump has made have resonated in a negative way with the Hispanic community,” she said.
Lea Márquez Peterson is still trying to separate herself from Donald Trump in a recent interview in Politico, ‘Separate the man from the policy’: How one Republican woman runs for Congress in the Trump age:
With Donald Trump as president, it’s not easy running for Congress as a Republican woman this year.
For Lea Márquez Peterson, who’s a GOP primary contender in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, that means having to develop a strategy that both embraces the president’s policies and distances herself from him personally.
“I kind of separate the man from the policy,” said Márquez Peterson, who’s running in a district that Hillary Clinton won by 5 points in the 2016 presidential election. “I mean, there are certainly things he has said that I’ve not agreed with related to women and so on. But if I focus on the policy and things that I can actually impact, that’s where I take my stand.”
On the Women Rule podcast ( listen to the full podcast here) Márquez Peterson said she hadn’t really “pursued” the president’s support in her race, choosing instead to win over leaders in her Southern Arizona district.
“I haven’t asked for an endorsement at all,” she said of Trump. “I just really focused on the local community and making sure that I’m out and about and speaking with mayors and city councils.”
* * *
Still, Márquez Peterson — who leads the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and is running to replace Rep. Martha McSally — hasn’t rejected the White House outright.
“I’ve been blessed enough as a chamber president to engage with the Trump administration,” she said on the podcast. “I’ve been invited to the White House for different policy discussions even more recently, which has been great … It’s been a good interaction, just learning more about his perspective and making sure that they’re aware of this race and who I am and my background.”
For the most part, Márquez Peterson has publicly supported key parts of the president’s agenda, like his border strategy, even defending as not racist comments Trump has made about immigrant gangs being “animals.”
Their key difference is on trade, with more than 100,000 Arizona jobs relying on NAFTA and tariffs having “dramatically impact[ed] southern Arizona,” according to the candidate.
Speaking more broadly on women in the GOP, Márquez Peterson said she finds it “alarming” how few women are in elected office in the House Republican Caucus.
UPDATE: Márquez Peterson’s tactic appears to run counter to her GOP voter base. By a 3-to-1 margin, Trump supporters embrace his personality over his policies:
The Pew Research Center asked Americans if they liked Trump and why. Of the minority that approved of Trump’s job performance, a majority — a bit under 60 percent — indicated that the rationale for their support stemmed from his personality and approach to the job vs. his policies or values.
On Thursday, the pollsters released an updated version of that question. Once again, personality is preferred to policies among Trump supporters, with a slightly higher percentage pointing to policies and values than last year.
Well, Southern Arizona certainly does not need this woman as its representative. If you embrace Trump’s policies, you are a Trumpster whether you try to separate yourself from this vile man, or not. You own him.