At Politico today is a great profile of journalist Jorge Ramos, who has been called everything from the “Walter Cronkite of Hispanic news” to the “Mexican Anderson Cooper.” The profile detailed Ramos’ passionate advocacy for issues like immigration reform, and his willingness to confront those in power — the way he did last week, when he charged Speaker Boehner with blocking reform.
It’s that willingness, the profile said, that makes people like Matt Drudge call Ramos “the last journalist standing.” As Drudge tweeted, “Warning to politicians. If you see him… RUN!”
On immigration reform, Ramos has called out Republicans and Democrats alike, telling Republicans that they must pass legislation if they ever want to win the presidency again, and Democrats that they must keep their promises to push for reform. As he told Politico:
Immigration reform is a prerequisite for the Hispanic community… Without that, nothing is going to happen…
Republicans don’t get it. They’re going to lose the 2016 election if they don’t move on immigration reform, and they’re going to lose again in 2020. They have a very short memory. They forgot in 2012. They’ll remember after 2016.
Those whom Ramos targets — like Boehner, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, and President Obama — have reason to worry, because he has a massive megaphone through which to make his points. As Politico points out:
More than any other media figure, Ramos, 56, is the conduit between Washington politics and Hispanic America, population 55 million and growing. His Univision newscast is the most-watched Spanish-language news program in the United States, with an average viewership of 2.1 million. Last year, he expanded his audience with an English-language broadcast on Fusion, the Univision-ABC News joint venture targeted toward Hispanics and millennials. All this exposure has made him the second-most-popular Hispanic in the United States, trailing only Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, according to a recent Pew Research report surveying Latinos…
There were an estimated 23.7 million eligible Latino voters in the 2012 election. By 2016, that number will have grown by 17 percent, to 27.7 million, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. The all-important state of Florida will add 600,000 new eligible Hispanic voters, compared with only 125,000 new white voters. Arizona will add 175,000 Hispanic voters and lose 10,000 white voters. Texas alone will add a staggering 900,000 Hispanic voters, nearly five times the number of new white voters.
