Viva Kennedy 24: Mariachi, Catholicism and Alex Villanueva

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Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is courting Latino voters, and he’s enlisting the help of former Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva, whose pugilistic style has been compared to Donald Trump.

Villanueva will join Kennedy at a Cesar Chavez Day event in Los Angeles next weekend, where the political scion will highlight his family’s historical ties to Chavez, the legendary farmworker organizer.

Robert Kennedy Sr.’s prominent support of Chavez and his cause forged an enduring bond with Latinos in California. The younger Kennedy is touting that history, with his campaign noting in a press release Thursday that he had been a pallbearer at Chavez’s funeral. The event will serve as the launch for a “Viva Kennedy 24” campaign aimed at Latino voters, which includes a Spanish-language website.

But Kennedy’s choice of special guests is a striking addition to an otherwise conventional outreach event. Villanueva, the first Spanish-speaking sheriff to be elected to the position in over a century, was elected after one term in 2022 as once-supportive Democrats swore on him.

The former sheriff presided over a scandal-plagued department and clashed with elected officials — including raiding a Democratic county supervisor’s home. He endeared himself to conservative figures like Tucker Carlson by embracing Republican rhetoric.

Villanueva was a vocal opponent of Covid-19 vaccine mandates, aligning him with Kennedy’s longstanding criticism of vaccination requirements like the one California passed in 2015. The Kennedy-Villanueva bond goes both ways. Kennedy endorsed Villanueva’s failed challenge to Los Angeles Supervisor Janice Hahn.

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