There are plenty of websites and blogs devoted to covering Florida politics and public policy. So that fact that that Hispanics now make up 23 percent of the state's population, it shouldn't be too surprising that there's more attention being paid to that growing demographic's concerns - so here comes a new site is devoted to Latino politics - called political pasion.
It's the creation of Evelyn Perez-Verdia, who's based in Broward County but has extensive experience working in Hillsborough County.
Professionally she's best known as serving as the spokesperson for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office from 2008-2013. Before that she worked for Tampa Democrat Bob Henriquez when he served in the House, and also worked on Jim Davis' unsuccessful race against Charlie Crist for governor in 2006.
She says she wants to create forums for both Democrats and Republicans, though she acknowledges that Hispanics mirror the general population in the state overall by going the independent route. She says that currently in the Sunshine State, 39 percent of Latinos are registered as Democrats, 30 percent are Republicans, and 29 percent are registered as non-party-affiliated. That's different than back in 2006, when there were more Republicans (37 percent) that Democrats (33 percent). But that changed in 2008 and the gap widened in 2012.
Perez-Verdia, 34, is a Colombian-American who was born in Bogota, and raised in both her native country and Florida. .
She's hoping to find like-minded individuals who like to write for the site, searching for ideas to make it better, "because that's how you create a forum. I want other people to contact me to say 'I have this idea.'"
She has high hopes about the growing Latino population and how they can affect politics.
"I want to wake up the sleeping giant."
If you're so inclined, you can contact her at [email protected].
