A new campaign ad for Mitt Romney features his Spanish-speaking son. The spot highlights Romney’s family ties to Mexico.
Craig Romney talks about his grandfather George, who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.
The Romney family fled to Mexico in the 1880s to avoid anti-polygamy laws. In a January interview with Univision, Mitt Romney said it would be “disingenuous” of him to claim Mexican heritage. So why shine a light on those connections now?
Northern Arizona University political science professor Stephen Nuño says the ads are the only way Romney has to identify with the country’s large Latino population.
"Unless he picks an Hispanic vice president or has some sort of high-profile Hispanic campaigning for him, he doesn’t have a whole lot of options to reach out to the Latino community and create some sort of common experience with Latinos," Nuño said. "And fleeing the United States because of religious persecution is not necessarily a story that’s common among Latinos in the United States."
Craig Romney also promised his dad will work on federal immigration reform. But Nuño said the presidential candidate hasn’t said with certainty what that will look like. During primary season Romney suggested his idea of reform would resemble Arizona’s “show me your papers” law.
