SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- As the nation continues to process what happened during the first presidential debate, many are expressing frustration about what didn’t happen.
Local and national Latino American leaders are calling out the moderator and the candidates for making no mention of the millions of Latinos in the country.
Just moments after the debate ended Tuesday night, organizations like the National Association of Hispanic Journalists shared a series of tweets highlighting that Latinos were not mentioned during the debate.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than 32 million Latino voters are eligible to vote in November.
Voters like Denisse Roldan Newell wanted to hear more from both candidates about their policies on a range of issues.
“It's not just immigration, it's not just the border wall, it's having to do with economics, with smalls business development, with affordable health care, with education,” said Roldan Newell.
Roberto Alcantar with the Chicano Federation told ABC 10News it was concerning that the candidates made no mention about COVID-19 and it’s disproportionate affect on the Latino community.
In San Diego, Latinos make up 34% of the population but 65% of COVID-19 cases.
"These are not just Latino issues, these are issues for all of us as American. While, yes, we are Latinos, we are American and our issues are America’s issues," said Alcantar.
Locally, Latino leaders like Roldan Newell and Alcantar hope the debate organizers and moderators to make a change before the next debate.
The next debate is between the vice presidential candidates on Wednesday, October 7th.
