CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES AND HISPANIC CONSTITUENTS: OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL WEBSITES AS AN OUTREACH TOOL DURING THE 2014 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

This study examined 435 House.gov webpages of members in the 113th Congressional House of Representatives. In order to determine which political party reached out more to the Latino community, the sites were coded for English to Spanish translation, mention of immigration policy, and Hispanics in pictures on their House.gov webpage. The results suggest Democrats are more likely than Republicans to reach out to Latino constituents through Spanish translation content and pictures of Hispanics on their House.gov site. The results affirm that Democratic Representatives have webpages that have more Latino outreach functions, but a scarcity of examples shows that Congress as a whole has not begun to participate in Latino outreach through their House.gov sites. The results show that regardless of the rhetorical push from both parties to recruit the Latino population, representatives will engage in more outreach through their websites as the Hispanic population increases within their respective districts.