Kevin Phillips, a columnist for a newspaper distributed under King Features Syndicate, wrote a piece in September of 1970 titled Liberals Hold Balance of Power in Texas where he covered an upcoming gubernatorial and Senate election. Phillips briefly addresses three key points with regard to Chicano voters; Chicano voters who want a “conservative-liberal realignment” and want to accomplish that through a vote for republican candidates, the potential size of the Chicano vote, and rising Chicano political activism. Chicanos still maintain a good portion of Mexican culture and customs. Part of that culture is the valuing of traditional family and economic values, mainly promoted by the republican party. In the column Phillips references the large Chicano vote which is estimated at 15-20 percent. Considering the voting barriers faced by Chicano voters it is interesting to consider how that percentage affected election results if a percentage of those voters were unable to vote because of the lack of bilingual materials. Phillips also mentions the Chicano funded party El Partido de la Raza Unida. The Raza Unida party was one way Chicanos saw themselves represented in politics for the first time. Many older Chicanos still consider themselves members of El Partido de la Raza Unida, regardless of their voting status as democrats or republicans.
Contrary to the claims about the importance of the Chicano vote and how the Chicano vote could potentially influence the election, Chicanos are still mentioned in only a few lines of the column. This column provides a visual example of the type of erasure occurring in the larger society surrounding Chicanos. Despite the importance of the Chicano vote, the contributions of the group were not deemed important enough to elaborate on and analyze. In the documentation, above the column is a note that reads “columnist, Kevin Phillips says Chicanos in Texas are ignoring Democratic primary.” Simply the fact that this note reads as it does is evidence of the negative perceptions of Chicanos found in many of the other mentioned sources of this project and directly contradict Phillips’ column where he simply refers to the creation of a Chicano political party, not the ignoring of the election. Columns like Phillips’ are essential to understanding public response as well as media portrayal of Chicano issues like those addressed in the 1975 Voting Rights Act Extension and Expansion.
“Across the Latin crescent of South Texas many Chicanos registered this year in their own ‘El Partido de la Raza Unita’ and ignored the Democratic primary. Liberal Senator Yarborough who earlier injured Bentsen among Latins, by saying that his was ‘a family of land frauds, a family of wetback exploiters,’ has not yet endorsed the primary victor. The Texas Teamsters have already endorsed Republican Bush. The liberal Texas Observer continually attacks Bentsen, and Northern Democratic realignment seekers like John Kenneth Galbraith urge his defeat.”
Phillips, Kevin P. “Liberals Hold Balance Of Power In Texas.” In Contested Materials Files, 1969 – 1974, 50-51. September 1970. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/26145776.