This story has been translated and edited from its original Spanish version.

Voters this year will elect representatives to public office who will define the future of Nevada, but what role will the state’s sizable Hispanic population play in this election? What are the challenges Latino candidates and elected officials face, and what do they propose to benefit the community they hope to serve?

Those were some of the questions several candidates discussed at a "Meet Hispanics in Politics Mixer" organized earlier this month by the Hispanics in Politics (HIP) organization in Las Vegas. The event brought together 15 candidates for various public offices — most of them Latino.

During the gathering, Hispanic politicians shared their proposals and ideas as well as some of the challenges they have faced in their political career. And while they said they wanted their community better represented in the halls of power, they emphasized that they want voters to consider first and foremost how dedicated a candidate is to improving life for their constituents.

"People shouldn’t vote for Latinos because of the fact they are Latino," said Democratic Assemblyman Nelson Araujo, who is seeking the secretary of state’s office. "I’m very proud of being Hispanic, but people must assess the level of commitment candidates have with their community and then vote."

Hispanic representation

Of the nearly 3 million people who live in Nevada, 28 percent are Hispanic or Latino.

HIP President Fernando Romero told The Nevada Independent en Español that the main purpose of the "Meet Hispanics in Politics Mixer" was to have the candidates present their plans just ahead of the primary election.

"We have a population in which Hispanics are the largest minority," said Romero, whose group was founded in 1980. "And we are analyzing what their political views are in Southern Nevada. Approximately 10 percent of the candidates are Latino and 8 percent are elected officials."

Romero said it was unacceptable how low Latino representation is in the political context and offered the example of Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, where 42 percent of the population is Hispanic but no Latino candidates jumped into the race.

The district currently has a Hispanic Democratic representative, Ruben Kihuen, who announced last December that he will not seek re-election and who is in the midst of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee following accusations of sexual harassment.

In 2016, Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and Kihuen were elected to represent Nevada in the Senate and House, respectively, while nine lawmakers who served in the Legislature in 2017 were of Hispanic descent.

With a total of 63 state lawmakers, only 17 percent of the representatives who were elected are Latino.

A Hispanic official does hold the highest elected position in the state, however. Republican Governor Brian Sandoval has been in office since January of 2011, and his term will end in January of 2019.

Hispanics, politics and challenges

But why is there a lag between the percentage of Nevadans who are Hispanic and the number of elected officials of Latino descent?

In an interview, Araujo, whose family comes from El Salvador, stressed that the Latino presence presence in politics has been growing slowly.

"Our community has many needs and it is vital to have someone who understands these needs, who has lived with them," said Araujo, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. "We are a community with many talents, but our presence in public office has taken time to develop. It has been hard to increase the number of elected representatives."

Last September, Araujo announced his candidacy for secretary of state, a position currently held by Republican Barbara Cegavske, who is seeking re-election.

Araujo said that achieving this position is a challenge not only because of the race itself, but because of what Hispanics historically have been able to accomplish in Nevada when it comes to politics.

"At the state level few Hispanics have won. Same thing happens at the federal level," the legislator explained.

Annette Teijeiro has a similar view.

Tejeiro, who has a Cuban background, attended the University of Nevada School of Medicine and became an anesthesiologist. She ventured into politics in 2012.

Teijeiro lost her bid for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District in Tuesday’s crowded Republican primary. The seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen, who last July announced her candidacy to challenge Republican Dean Heller in the U.S. Senate race.

Teijeiro has participated in four primary elections and has won once. In 2014, she beat Jose Padilla in Congressional District 1, but then lost in the general election where incumbent Democrat Dina Titus was elected to the heavily Democratic district.

This year, she would have had to defeat well-known frequent candidate Danny Tarkanian and a host of others in the Republican primary. Tarkanian handily won the contest on Tuesday night.

Teijeiro said that while going door to door is key to getting more votes and building a political career, she feels she faces extra challenges as a Hispanic politician, including financial ones.

"Running for office costs a lot of money, and that is part of the problem that we have as candidates," Teijeiro said. "As a woman and a Latino, I have less financial support. It’s sad, but it’s true."

Selena Torres, who is seeking the Assembly seat that Araujo will be leaving, also underscored that fundraising is tough.

Torres, who is 22 years old, is an English teacher. Her parents migrated to the United States due to the civil war in El Salvador back in the 1980s.

This February, Speaker Jason Frierson announced the Assembly Democratic Caucus would be supporting Torres for Assembly District 3 in Las Vegas, saying she “will bring 21st century ideas” and “a fresh perspective to our state.”

Despite this support, Torres said it hasn’t been easy.

"The financial side of it is hard, you must work hard to have an opportunity," she said. "Sometimes we don’t have the resources to pay for a campaign.”

Torres said some voters can misjudge Latino candidates, assuming they don’t have enough education, they don’t speak English and "we are not smart enough to be in office." But she’s still optimistic.

"Being Latino is not an obstacle. It’s hard, perhaps it’s complicated, but it’s not something that prevents us from becoming elected officials," Torres said.

Democrat Sandra Jáuregui was also among the legislators who attended the HIP event.

Jauregui, who has been an assemblywoman for District 41 since 2016, said that it’s not easy to be Hispanic, young and female in politics, but she added there are options to turn these challenges into opportunities.

"Many of the voters are older people and many of them simply don’t vote for you because you don't look like them," she said. "There are universal themes, such as access to education, health care and better jobs. With those issues on hand you can connect with the community and you can share with them your proposals to convince them."

Beyond ethnicity

Although the respondents have in common their Latin roots, all of them agreed that voters should pay more attention to the proposals and not the ethnicity of the candidates.

"I understand that some of us feel united as a community and that’s why we trust Latinos," Torres said. "Maybe that's why many Hispanics decide to support candidates from their community, because we understand their problems and needs better."

Although Hispanics have shared an affinity with their candidates, Jauregui said voters must thoroughly investigate the political platforms of those who seek to represent them in public office.

"They must know the view a candidate has regarding different issues such as the economy, health care, education, among others, and then decide who to vote for," she said.

The interviewees agreed that Democrats have counted on the support not only of their party, but of organizations such as The Latino Victory Fund to communicate their proposals and reach out to more homes.

They also credited their success to the support of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, as well as her predecessor, Harry Reid, whom they described as mentors for their political careers.

Teijeiro said that although progress has been made, there still needs to be more politicians from both parties who understand the needs and challenges the Hispanic community faces.

In 2017, Latinos constituted about 16.4 percent of registered voters, meaning that about 235,000 people out of 1.4 million registered voters are Hispanic.

Romero said those statistics draw interest from political parties, but that doesn’t always mean Hispanics who seek public office are embraced.

"Sometimes parties don’t open their doors for us," Romero said. "They open their doors only so we can support their candidates, but not for us to become candidates."