Actor and stand-up comedian George Lopez came to UTRGV last Saturday afternoon before his meet-and-greet at the Bert Ogden Arena to speak in support of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke.
Speaking at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex, Lopez encouraged the audience to go to the voting polls in the Student Union on the Edinburg campus.
Carlo Flores, an international business senior and vice president of The Progressive Young Democrats, helped organize the event with Student Involvement.
“It’s important to make sure that Latinos go out and vote,” Flores said.
While introducing Lopez, he also said the event is about voting regardless of which political party voters support.
“It’s true that we have to vote,” Lopez said. “We have to support each other.”
He said his grandmother told him voting is important.
“One thing that she really did tell me from the time that I was 18 years old was how important it was to vote,” Lopez said. “And, she was a woman that wasn’t really committed to a lot of things, but she was committed to voting. I don’t know where that came from.”
Lopez said he would tell others that she votes. His grandmother replied it was fine with her as long as he did not say how much she weighed.
He said that even though a lot of people don’t like going to the doctor, “it’s important that we do have health care for the people that do want to go.”
Lopez said it’s important to vote as long as people keep attacking Latinos.
“They say that we take jobs, but they also say that we’re lazy. You can’t be both,” Lopez said.
He said this election is important since Texas is traditionally a red state.
“We need to turn Texas blue, and we need to support each other, and we need to be about all of the values that Latino people have, which is being inclusive, caring about education, having your kids go to college, having your kids get a diploma and continuing their education,” Lopez said.
The comedian said it is time to start being the voice of undocumented Latinos.
“It’s time to start to take advantage of the population of Latinos and to also be the voice for the Latinos who are undocumented, and who live in fear every day,” Lopez said.
He said Dreamers have to stay in the United States and Latinos should look for further education.
“Look, if they don’t want you to get an education, we always like to do what people don’t want us to do,” Lopez said. “They don’t want educated Latinos. I say we educate ourselves more than they think we can be educated. That starts with Dreamers going to school and supporting each other.”
Nicole Saenz, a Weslaco resident, volunteered for the rally.
“I just received a notification Thursday afternoon that they were looking for volunteers for this impromptu event and immediately I said, ‘Yes, of course,’ because this is another great opportunity to bring attention to the importance of this midterm election,” Saenz said.
She is excited that voter turnout has been higher this midterm election than in previous elections.
“We need to continue that push, though, because we still have another week of early voting and then, of course, Election Day,” Saenz said.
“This event was organized in huge part thanks to Student Involvement,” Flores said. “They worked with us. When we got news that George Lopez was open to coming to UTRGV to raise awareness about the midterm elections, we definitely jumped on it.”
He said The Progressive Young Democrats worked hard with UTRGV to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible.
“We’re really happy to have a Hispanic leader like Lopez here to talk about midterms and how we can get more awareness and more action within our elections,” Flores said.
Gabriella Hinojosa, a biology senior and event volunteer, said she was excited about the event.
“I’m really happy, I and hope a lot of people come up, and I hope that a lot of people go vote with us,” Hinojosa said.
Roberto Treviño, a marketing junior, said he had not yet voted.
“I haven’t voted because every time I go to the union, the line is incredibly long,” said Treviño, who still plans to vote.
He attended Saturday’s event and hopes to attend others.
Computer engineering sophomore Jonathan Hinojosa said he has voted.
“It was pretty invigorating, especially since we’re down in the [Rio Grande] Valley, and it’s something that will change the history and the future for us Mexican-Americans down in the Valley,” Hinojosa said.
He attended the event because of friends, family and to support O’Rourke for U.S. senator.
O’Rourke, currently the U.S. representative for Texas’ 16th congressional district, is challenging Republican incumbent Ted Cruz.
“It’s important for everybody, not just students, to vote because it’s definitely going to change the course of history and everyone as an individual and as a community,” Jonathan Hinojosa said.
Kimberly Gomez, a communication sciences and disorders junior, also attended the event, but has not yet voted.
“I’m not allowed to vote in this county, but I’m going to be going home to Cameron County, where I’m from, and I’m going to go ahead and vote over there,” Gomez said.
She has been attending the O’Rourke rallies because she wants to support him. Gomez attended the event because of Lopez, who starred in the ABC sitcom “George Lopez” from 2002 to 2007.
“I’m always the biggest fan of George Lopez, since I was little watching the show with my mom,” Gomez said. “ … Knowing that he’s here, rallying up people, and then going to take us to the booths, that means a lot because not a lot of people are going to be motivated by that if it wasn’t for him.”
After the rally, he took pictures with fans outside the Student Union.
