Campaign 2013: Reaching Out to Hispanic Voters in Port Chester

For Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla and Trustee Luis Marino, evenings like Wednesday night are the fun ones.

“I really enjoy speaking with and meeting the residents, and hearing their concerns for Port Chester,” Pilla said. “It’s a fun night, but a serious one as well.”

The two were at a meeting of the Centro Cultural Bolivia de Port Chester at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Port Chester to talk about the importance of voting in next week’s election, as well as the new voting process.

Pilla said another thing he likes about events like Wednesday’s are that they give him an opportunity to practice his Spanish. The meeting was conducted in Spanish, from introductions of the candidates to their speeches to questions from the audience. There was only one point where Pilla spoke English, and it was just to say two quick sentences that he felt were easier to relay in English.

“I will always be honest with you,” he told the crowd. “I will always work hard for you.”

The Democratic mayor is the incumbent seeking re-election, with Republican Neil Pagano challenging him in the election. Marino, also an incumbent Democrat, is one of 10 candidates vying for six trustee positions.

“The campaign’s gone pretty well so far, I think,” Marino said. “It’s great to have an event like this and see more than 100 people come out to show their support.”

Marino said he’s also seen added support this election season, especially from various cultural organizations, including local residents from Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador.

“I think that in my time in office, I’ve shown them that I’m going to look out for them,” he said. “I think I’ve shown that everything I do comes from the bottom of my heart.”

Marino, who is from Peru, said he thinks it’s important to build those relationships across cultural lines.

Vladimir Molina, with the Bolivian cultural organization, said they decided to support Marino because of his work during his time in office.

“He’s always fighting for the Latino communities,” Molina said. “He was a big help to us last year with our first parade.”

Molina also said what they value most about Marino is his person.

“As a person and as a minority, he’s experienced a lot of the same things we have,” Molina said. “He knows what’s going on in our communities, he grew up like many of us did. And now as a politician, he’s helping making sure we have opportunities that we might not have had before.”