In the fast-evolving world of campaign technology, a group of longtime political organizers in San Antonio is still proudly running their operation the old-fashioned way.
Latinas for Kamala is made up of some of the city’s best-known progressive organizers — including Rosie Castro and María Antonietta Berriozábal — who’ve been sending postcards, making phone calls, knocking on doors and tapping their social networks to influence politics for more than five decades.
While modern campaigns have transitioned away from some of that approach, this year they’re doubling down on it as they try to make Vice President Kamala Harris the first woman of color in the White House.
Outside the Memorial Library on Monday the group was rallying for their final push on the first day of early voting, which entails more personal outreach to a wide array of potential voters.
“I think we like doing the basic work, but also we understand the changes,” such as using social media to gather volunteers and get the message out, Castro said.
Berriozábal — her fellow organizer for decades — quickly chimed in: “We also printed cards, and put envelopes on them, and stamps and took them to the post office, like in olden times.”
Castro and Berriozábal have seen a great deal in their political careers: From taking on powerful business leaders to fight for representation on the City Council, to pushing more recent leaders to make up for those historic inequities.
In 1981, Berriozábal became the first Hispanic woman to serve on the City Council. Castro, mother of twins Julian and Joaquin, was appointed to a temporary vacancy representing District 7 for three months in 2023.
While the possibility of Harris making history is an alluring prospect, Berriozábal said in her perspective, this election still feels very heavy because of the alternative: reelecting former President Donald Trump.
“This is a very serious campaign,” Berriozábal said. “Those of us who have been working on campaigns since we were young — I go back to John Kennedy and the excitement that that campaign gave us — here I see excitement, but I also see an environment where we are literally fighting for our democracy,” she said.
Nevertheless, a chance to join forces with some of the community’s most well-respected political veterans is exciting in itself for some of their volunteers.
“They’re kind of like the godmothers, the madrinas, of anything civically engaged,” said Patricia Mejia, who at age 45, was one of the group’s younger volunteers at Monday’s rally. “When they call for you to be anywhere, at any time, you show up.”
Originally from Corpus Christi, Mejia moved to San Antonio for college 25 years ago, and said Castro and Berriozábal have been taking the next generation under their wings and passing down an approach that’s sorely missing from today’s politics.
“Just like anything, the basics matter,” Mejia said. “This group has created such great change in this community, and nationally, because they understand how to connect with people.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Berriozábal’s political affiliation earlier in her organizing career.
