Republican Rocky Chavez enters U.S. Senate race in California

                            

Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chávez formally entered the contest to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday, offering himself as a pragmatic leader focused on strengthening national security, educational opportunities and the state economy.

A retired Marine Corps colonel from Oceanside, he joins Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris as the only major candidates in the race.

“Our national security is a major concern, with ISIS growing bolder every day,” Chávez said in a statement announcing his candidacy. “If things get worse overseas, who would Californians want representing them in the Senate? A lawyer from San Francisco or a Marine colonel who knows how lives can be protected and understands the importance of keeping America and her allies safe and secure.”

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article12602606.html

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Mayor Lupe Ramos Watson announces 2016 run for Congress

Lupe Ramos Watson is officially running for Congress, standing on her 11 years of experience on the Indio City Council and three stints as mayor. The 52-year-old told The Desert Sun on Tuesday that her highest priority in Washington, D.C., would be jobs and the economy, with a particular focus on taxes and small businesses. 

When asked about what she considers her greatest accomplishments on the local level, she cited a reduction in property taxes, securing a long-term contract with the music festivals, and increasing public safety around parks. "I'm proud of where we are fiscally," the lifelong Indio resident said. "We've been able to steer our way through the most difficult recession that I've experienced. We now have healthy reserves, and I think that speaks volumes."

Read more: http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/21/lupe-ramos-watson-congress/26147509/

Here is Jeb Bush's Cinco de Mayo message

Q&A: Marco Rubio

Fortune's Tory Newmyer talks with Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., about some of his latest pushes in congress.

 

The LIBRE Initiative's Steven Cruz on President's Immigration Executive Action

Insiders: Rubio has upside in early states

As he prepares to launch his presidential campaign on Monday, Marco Rubio is seen as significantly more electable by early state insiders of both parties than Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, his GOP Senate colleagues who are already in the race.

This week’s survey of The POLITICO Caucus — a bipartisan group of key activists, operatives and thought leaders in New Hampshire and Iowa — finds that three in four Republicans think the Florida senator could defeat Hillary Clinton in a general election. For context, only 6 percent thought Cruz could carry their state against the former secretary of state in a general, and only one-quarter thought Paul could.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/marco-rubio-new-hampshire-iowa-popularily-116840.html#ixzz3WulJHOsd

Inicia Cumbre Económica Para Pequeños Negocios

La coalición latina y la cámara de comercio de Estados Unidos inicio este miércoles la décima edición de su cumbre de pequeños negocios en la capital del país.

Hey GOP Congress: Hispanic constituency must be heard too, on urgency for immigration reform - beyond border security

For many Republican Party leaders, the 2012 election served as a wake-up call to adjust its approach to the growing Hispanic electorate. Mitt Romney endorsed a policy of "self-deportation" for undocumented immigrants and that led to him receiving just 27% of the Hispanic vote. The Republican National Committee's post-election autopsy report concluded that the party needed to improve its policies and its tone when dealing with immigration legislation and Hispanics in general. 

In prior elections, Hispanic outreach efforts geared up a few months before Election Day, but then shut down immediately afterward. Following the 2014 midterm elections, the Republican National Committee maintained about 40 staff members dedicated to Hispanic outreach. 

The LIBRE Initiative, a group that advocates for conservative principles, did voter outreach in seven Hispanic-heavy states in 2014 and is using about 50 staff members to expand to two more states this year. 

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More non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended at US borders

For the first time on record, more non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended at US borders: http://pewrsr.ch/13HbZbn 

For the first time on record, more non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended at U.S. borders in 2014 by the Border Patrol, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of more than 60 years of Border Patrol data. This shift is another sign that unauthorized immigrants from Mexico are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border significantly less often than they did before the Great Recession.

About 229,000 Mexicans were apprehended by the Border Patrol in fiscal year 2014 compared with 257,000 non-Mexicans during the previous year, according to recently published Border Patrol data. Taken together, total apprehensions of Mexican and non-Mexican unauthorized immigrants (more than 486,000) were up 16% over the previous year.