GOP: Longoria group a ‘front’ for Dems

The Republican National Committee on Tuesday accused a Latino advocacy group cofounded by actress Eva Longoria of being a “front group” to elect Democrats. 

RNC Hispanic media communications director Izzy Santa challenged leaders of the Latino Victory Project to prove the RNC wrong.

{mosads}”It won’t be hard: in future interviews spotlight the accomplishments of Republican Latinos; display them prominently on your website; and answer a simple question: which Latino Republicans will you be supporting in the midterms?” Santa wrote in a letter to Longoria, the group’s president Cristobal Alex and its cofounder Henry Muñoz, who is also the a Democratic National Committee finance chairman. 

While the group technically bills itself as nonpartisan, its founders do not hide their strong ties to the Democratic Party. Longoria was a co-chair of President Obama’s reelection campaign and bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars during the 2012 election. Munoz serves as national finance chairman for the DNC. 

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Alex, The Latino Victory Project president, said the group chooses candidates to support who share the core values of Hispanics. He did not rule out supporting a Republican under the right circumstances. 

The group blossomed last year out of The Futuro Fund, which raised $30 million for Obama’s campaign and sought to be a bridge for Obama to the Latino community. Obama ended up winning 71 percent of the Hispanic vote. 

Earlier this month the group endorsed a handful of candidates, all Democrats. And last year, the group said it would target members with large Hispanic populations who oppose immigration reform, mostly Republicans. 

In the letter, the RNC pointed out that Longoria did not mention any Republicans during an interview with Fusion about influential Hispanics in politics, such as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). 

“You didn’t highlight the leadership of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who are two of only three Hispanic U.S. Senators. Nor did you mention either of the nation’s Latino governors — Brian Sandoval of Nevada and Susana Martinez of New Mexico — both of whom are Republicans,” Santa said. “The list goes on.”