Ads Increase Controvery in Nevada Senate Race

Many elections this year are getting tighter and tighter, making illegal immigration and immigration reform one of the deciding factors when voters turn in their ballots. One election race coming into the spotlight and becoming tighter is the Nevada Senate race between Senate Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle. But the deciding voters in this election may be Hispanics, due to controversial ads released by Angle.

The most recently aired ad in support of Angle is titled “The Wave,” where Reid is depicted as a friend of illegal immigrants. However, the controversy surrounding this ad is the way Hispanics are seemingly depicted.

Reasoning behind ad

Angle claims the ads are about border security. “You’re misinterpreting those commercials. I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. We cannot allow terrorists, we cannot allow anyone to come across our border if we don’t know why they’re coming,” Angle told a group of Hispanic students, says Politico.

Despite her statement, activists and social groups are still denouncing the ad, which repeatedly portrays Hispanics negatively, as well as gang members. Her statement says that it is not guaranteed that the people featured in the ad are Hispanic, yet a couple arguments could state otherwise.

Ads could lead to discrimination, racism

If indeed they are Hispanic, the ad could potentially cause other races to fear Hispanics because they might believe they are involved in gangs or drugs. Or, the ads could cause people to believe that anyone that fits those features could be Hispanic, instilling the same fear they’d have for Hispanics. This would lead to racial problems among Nevada citizens. To better get her message across, Angle should have shown a wide variety of people crossing the border.

The ad also suppresses the Hispanic population in Nevada by portraying them in a negative light and making them seem like they are all involved in illegal affairs. Not all Hispanics in Nevada, or the country for that matter, are illegal, gang members, smuggling drugs, etc. This ad gives obvious reasons for discrimination.

Immigration is already a huge debate in Nevada, as well as its neighboring states, and these ads could make the topic even more controversial among its citizens.

Deciding factors

In a state where 14 percent of the electorate is Hispanic & Democrats are supported nearly two-to-one nationwide, according to Reuters, Sharron Angle could possibly lose the election if her ads continue to cause fear of Hispanics or continue to portray them in a negative light.

There hasn’t been much done either to manage or control the effects of the ad. The statements released by Angle have not fixed the controversy made by her ads nor have they tried to gain a better relationship with the Hispanic voter community.