Poder Latinx is an organization dedicated to building left-of-center Latino voting blocs in key states. It operates in Washington, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Georgia, and has plans to expand into North Carolina as of March 2024. Poder Latinx primarily focuses on voter registration and mobilization, but also engages in advocacy for left-of-center policies and launches legal challenges against state laws it perceives as voter suppression. ¹

Poder Latinx and its 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Poder Latinx Collective Fund, are managed by Tides Advocacy and the affiliated Tides Foundation, respectively. Both Tides Advocacy and Tides Foundation are associated with the Tides Nexus, a collection of center-left pass-through funders and fiscal sponsorship nonprofits. ^{2 3}

Activities

Since its founding in 2019, Poder Latinx claims to have registered over 59,000 voters, knocked on more than 177,000 doors, made phone calls to 4.2 million Latino voters, and reached more than 8 million individuals online. ⁴

Poder Latinx promotes left-wing views to voters and potential voters on environmentalism, immigration, economic policies, and abortion access. ^{5 6}

In March 2024, Poder Latinx and the Hispanic Federation won a case challenging Florida Senate Bill 7050, which prohibited non-U.S. citizens from working for organizations that register voters in Florida. ⁷ Poder Latinx filed a lawsuit to challenge a similar law in Arizona. ⁸

In 2022, Poder Latinx led a voter mobilization campaign in the Georgia U.S. Senate election runoff. The organization knocked on 38,701 doors and made 424,977 calls. ⁹

Poder Latinx helps Latino individuals access clean energy tax credits created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. ¹⁰

In 2020, Poder Latinx was one of six members of Mi AZ, a coalition to mobilize one million Latino and young voters to support Democrats in Arizona. ¹¹

Poder Latinx supports an Action Network petition initiated by the Climate Action Campaign asking the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to enact the “strongest possible pollution standards.” ¹²

Poder Latinx is a partner in National Voter Registration Day, a “nonpartisan civic holiday” celebrated since 2012 to encourage voter registrations. ¹³

Leadership

Yadira Sanchez is a co-founder of Poder Latinx. She worked as co-executive director of the organization at its founding and has been the sole executive director since February 2022. Sanchez previously worked as a partner at Democracy Partners for over four years, in various roles at Mi Familia Vota for over five years (where she raised over $20 million), and at the SEIU for almost five years. ^{14 15}

Nancy Batista is a co-founder of Poder Latinx and works as the national programs director for the group. From 2018 to 2019, Batista worked as the Florida state director of Mi Familia Vota. From 2016 to early 2018, she was a program coordinator with the Hispanic Federation. ^{16 17}

Guadalupe Gonzelez has served as a development grants associate for Poder Latinx since 2023. From 2020 to 2022, Gonzalez worked at All In Together, a women’s political leadership development group. Earlier, Gonzalez worked at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs for over two years under Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). ¹⁸

Funding

In 2020, Poder Latinx received funding from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as part of his pledge to spend $100 million to support Democratic candidate Joe Biden against then-President Donald Trump (R) in the 2020 presidential election. ¹⁹

Poder Latinx has received funding from the Energy Foundation’s Racial Equity and Democracy Fund. ²⁰

Poder Latinx has received funding from the Progressive Multiplier Fund to hire staff for its communications and development teams. ²¹

Naming Controversy

In December 2021, Bendixen and Amandi International released a poll finding that only two percent of Latinos use the term “Latinx,” and that 40 percent of Latinos find the term offensive. In response, Poder Latinx senior advisor Ben Monterroso said the organization had not “heard any complaints from the voters and people we’re talking to.” He added that the term was used to be more inclusive and attract younger Latino voters. ²²

1. “About Us.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/.
2. “Home.” Poder Latinx, Accessed April 11, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/
3. LeftExposed. “Trouble with the IRS,” Accessed February 4, 2019, http://leftexposed.org/2015/11/tides-foundation/
4. “Donate to Poder Latinx – Building Year-Long Latinx Political Power.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/poder-latinx-1.
5. “About Us.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/.
6. “El poder te tu salud.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/elpoderdetusalud.
7. “Victory in Challenge Against Florida’s Anti-Voter Law.” ACLU. March 1, 2024. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/victory-in-challenge-against-floridas-anti-voter-law#:~:text=Hispanic%20Federation%20and%20Poder%20Latinx,on%20noncitizens%20from%20registering%20voters.
8. “Arizona Citizenship Requirement Challenge (Poder Latinx).” Democracy Docket. June 9, 2022. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/arizona-citizenship-requirement-challenge-poder-latinx/.
9. “Georgia Run Off.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/georgia-run-off.
10. “The Climate Action Plan:.” Nos Ayuda a Vivir.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/live.
11. Chavez, Nicole. “‘There’s no such thing as the Latino vote.’ 2020 results reveal a complex electorate.” CNN. November 9, 2020. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/politics/latino-voters-florida-texas-arizona/index.html.
12. “Poder Latinx.” LinkTree. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://linktr.ee/poderlatinx.
13. “About National Voter Registration Day.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/campaign.
14. “Yadira Sanchez.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadira-sanchez-b753625b/.
15. “Nuestro Equipo.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/nuestro-equipo.
16. “Nancy Batista.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-batista-mba-6b4149125/.
17. “Nuestro Equipo.” Poder Latinx. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://poderlatinx.org/nuestro-equipo.
18. “Guadalupe Gonzalez.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/guadalupegonzalezc/.
19. “Mike Bloomberg Gives $500,000 to Votar Es Poder PAC and Poder Latinx’s Get Out the Vote Efforts.” Mike Bloomberg. October 6, 2020. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/mike-bloomberg-gives-500000-to-votar-es-poder-pac-and-poder-latinxs-get-out-the-vote-efforts/.
20. ^[1] “Building the Power of the Latinx Voice.” Energy Foundation. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.ef.org/story/building-the-power-of-the-latinx-vote/.
21. “Poder Latinx: Digital Strategy for Community Contribution.” Progressive Multiplier. August 14, 2023. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/partner-projects/community-contributions.
22. “Democratic Groups Reckon With ‘Latinx’ After Poll Shows It Offends Latinos.” Newsweek. December 23, 2021. Updated December 29, 2021. Accessed March 27, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/democratic-groups-reckon-latinx-after-poll-shows-it-offends-latinos-1662224.