In the End, It Was a Crusade for Latinos and for the Future

No matter how hard Antonio Villaraigosa tried to downplay his Eastside roots, his campaign took on the air of a crusade among Latinos in Los Angeles in its final days.

Latino voters turned out in record numbers Tuesday, reaching another milestone in a decade-long march toward political power, rallying behind a candidate whose life story came to exemplify many of their hopes and dreams.

From blue-collar workers on the Eastside to immigrant entrepreneurs in the San Fernando Valley, Latino voters brought Antonio Villaraigosa tantalizingly close to victory. The election hinted at a future Los Angeles in which the city’s largest ethnic group becomes a leading force. For both longtime residents and newcomers, the Villaraigosa campaign reached beyond politics.

Emma Vega, 64, pushed her two great-grandchildren forward through a crush of photographers to meet Villaraigosa during a campaign stop at the Grand Central Market downtown.

She wanted them to meet Villaraigosa “so they’ll follow our heritage, and see that education is important,” she said, “so that they see having our people up there is important. . . . If he’s the next mayor, he’ll make history.”

‘Campaign Is About the Future’

Villaraigosa, who surprised many when he finished first in the April election, told supporters late Tuesday, “This campaign is about the future of Los Angeles.”

On Tuesday, cars were cruising Eastside barrios with Laker flags on one window and Villaraigosa signs on the other.

Even as it appeared that he would lose the battle with City Atty. James K. Hahn, supporters praised him for taking the high road, saying his conduct honored their community.

“I’m really proud of his campaign,” said Mario Ceballos, 37. “If he were to lose, I could look at him as a man of integrity who stuck to his principles.”

Latinos represented slightly more than a fifth of the electorate Tuesday, casting about three times the number of votes that they did in the 1993 mayor’s race, according to a Times exit poll and other surveys. Latinos voted for Villaraigosa by a margin of 4 to 1.

“I feel like he really knows where we’re coming from,” said Amelia Quinones, who cast her ballot in an Eastside neighborhood. “Even if he doesn’t win, I hope it’s very close, to show how important it is.”

Political activists saw the mayoral election as the next step in the expansion of the city’s Latino electorate, a struggle that gained momentum after the passing of Proposition 187 in 1994. Thousands of people became citizens--and registered voters--after the passage of the measure to crack down on illegal immigrants, which was seen by many as an assault on their community.

“Even if Antonio doesn’t ride the crest tonight, someone else will,” said Henry Cisneros, a former mayor of San Antonio and member of President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet. “In the last decade, it’s all come together” in Latino Los Angeles, he said.

At the Iglesia Metodisa Unida in Pacoima, a steady stream of Latinos poured in for the last couple of hours before the polls closed.

Many said they thought a Latino mayor would understand them more, know what their issues and problems were and, they hoped, work to solve them.

Raymond Alcantar, 18, cast his vote just under the church bell. He said he considered Villaraigosa “someone to look up to.” After crashing out of two high schools, Villaraigosa finished college and became speaker of the California Assembly.

“It makes me see that you can always overcome something and you always have to have faith,” Alcantar said.

Fidel and Ana Maria Martinez drove all the way from Mexicali to vote for Villaraigosa, returning from tending to a tire business they own across the border. They arrived at their Pacoima polling place at 7:30 p.m.

“We were still on the road and I was worrying that we wouldn’t make it,” said Ana Maria, 44, who has been in the United States 20 years, but a citizen only since 1996. “There needs to be a Latino on top to show that Latinos can make it.”

Polling places in Boyle Heights were marked by late-forming lines.

About 7 p.m., the line at the White Memorial Medical Center area polling place held about 40 people, said voting inspector Norma Nevarez, 30.

“It was busy all day, but after 7 p.m. it got even busier,” she said. In the end, about about a dozen people were turned away after the polls closed.

Maria de los Angeles Perea, 64, was one of those who made it just under the wire.

She was taking care of her two young grandchildren and had to wait for daughter Norma Perea to return from college before she could head to the polls. She cast her vote with about five minutes to spare.

“I told my daughter, ‘Run, because I have to go vote!’ ”

Cheers of “Viva Antonio!” were heard--many coming from non-Spanish speakers--at a rally by activists early Tuesday at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Among those present was Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. She noted that this week marks the 33rd anniversary of the night Robert F. Kennedy was killed at the Ambassador Hotel, moments after making his victory speech in California’s presidential primary.

“Say a prayer for him [Kennedy] today,” Huerta told the crowd. “Because we know he’s up there looking after us.”

Labor Contributes to Record Turnout

The record turnout was helped by a labor-backed campaign. The Organization of Los Angeles Workers was funded primarily by labor unions representing janitors, hotel workers and farm workers, with support from community activists and Mexican hometown organizations. The coalition formed about a year ago around a campaign for a new amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The campaign identified 75,000 Latinos with spotty voting records, from Pacoima to East Los Angeles, and set a goal of getting 50,000 to the polls.

During the past few months, thousands of those voters signed pledges to cast ballots Tuesday. They were reminded over the past few weeks with phone calls and visits, and a blitz of Spanish-language radio and television ads that began Saturday.

At a midday rally for OLAW precinct walkers Tuesday, hotel union leader Maria Elena Durazo announced early turnout numbers from the targeted Latino neighborhoods. Those precincts were voting at twice the rate of past elections, she said to a cheering crowd of volunteers.

Durazo and hundreds of other OLAW volunteers knocked on doors until the polls closed at 8 p.m., prodding targeted voters, offering encouragement, rides, and baby-sitting.

Near the end of the day, many opened their doors to announce they’d already cast ballots. Durazo badgered the few holdouts on her list.

“Don’t you want to wake up tomorrow morning knowing that you made a difference?” she told Felix Cervantes with only 10 minutes to spare before polls closed. Reluctantly, he, his wife and his son agreed to make the trip down the street. “That’s three more,” she exclaimed.

As midnight approached, Cecilia Ornelas, 41, looked beyond Tuesday’s election.

“If Antonio doesn’t win. We’ll wait for whatever he decides to do,” she said. “His political career is not over. It’s just begun.”

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Times staff writer Evelyn Larrubia contributed to this story.