You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I have been in rooms with people arguing over a character that's not really fleshed out: that, just because the surname is Latino, that automatically means you have an accent.
You draw a district for that particular minority - African American, Asian, Hispanic - so those folks have the right to elect whoever they want. If they don't decide to elect someone who sounds like them or looks like them, they can pick anyone they want.
Not everybody is comfortable with my ethnicity. When I first came along in the business, they didn't really like the idea of my name being Raquel.
I want to be the candidate placed on the ballot by the people, not the party.
My family came from Spain in 1725, and if people want to consider me Hispanic, they can, but I didn't advertise that way, and I'm an American first.
I am not a Hispanic candidate. I am an American candidate who happens to be of Hispanic heritage, who understands the culture, who has worked the border and has a unique understanding of those issues. But rest assured my job is to represent all Americans as a U.S. senator.
When people see a Spanish last name, they have an image in their head of what the typical Latina looks like. I think it's important on television to have different representations of people. And I'm so proud of being Latina. I love it.
I'm a little bit of everything. Sometimes people think I'm not Puerto Rican, because my name doesn't sound Spanish.
I have lots of Scottish blood and know that my family name is Scottish. At my home in the States I have a tartan crest but, unfortunately, I do a terrible Scottish accent.
I don't think it's at all weakening of the system if people with the same last name put themselves forward to the electorate, when their experiences, their character, and in my case, gender, may be different.