Koch Brothers Nurture Rise of Hispanic Republicans
From left to right, Libre Initiative volunteers Virginia Faura, George Faura, David Silva, and Carmin Chavez canvass neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 12, 2016.
Photographer: Andy McMillan for Bloomberg BusinessweekLisa Meklas, a 30-year-old insurance underwriting assistant in Charlotte, is exactly the kind of person the Libre Initiative wants to get excited about the conservative movement. A first-generation American whose parents came from Cuba, Meklas is a registered Republican who says she’s against tax increases. When canvassers knocked on her door on March 12 and asked whom she planned to support in North Carolina’s March 15 primary, she was candid: “Anybody but Trump would be my actual answer.”
The Libre Initiative courts support among Latinos such as Meklas for reducing the size of government, rolling back Obamacare, and promoting school voucher programs. Since 2011, Libre—a nonprofit funded in part by groups affiliated with the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch—has opened offices in 10 states, including Arizona, Florida, and Texas. It had a budget of about $9 million in 2014, the most recent year for which records are available, and employs about 125 people who have recruited thousands of volunteers. “There are 15 million Latinos who make over $50,000 in America,” says executive director Daniel Garza. “If they’re already prone to vote for free-market or freedom-oriented issues or candidates, well, that’s good information to know. We want those people to get out and vote.”