Ogden Latino leader puts out call for Hispanic mayor
-
- Sebastian Benitez, left, addresses a gathering of the Weber County Republican Women on Monday, May 9, 2022, at the Weber Center in Ogden. Also addressing the group were Luis Lopez of the Ogden City Council, center, and Ignacio Valdez, who runs a conservative podcast, right.
-
- The Weber County Republican Women, headed by Lorraine Brown, left, hosted a gathering featuring Weber County Latinos on Monday, May 9, 2022, at the Weber Center in Ogden. The featured speakers were, to the right of Brown, Luis Lopez, Sebastian Benitez and Ignacio Valdez.
-
- Sebastian Benitez, left, addresses a gathering of the Weber County Republican Women on Monday, May 9, 2022, at the Weber Center in Ogden. Also addressing the group were Luis Lopez of the Ogden City Council, center, and Ignacio Valdez, who runs a conservative podcast.
-
- Luis Lopez of the Ogden City Council, right, addresses a gathering of the Weber County Republican Women on Monday, May 9, 2022, at the Weber Center in Ogden. Also addressing the group were, behind the table, Sebastian Benitez, left, and Ignacio Valdez.
OGDEN — Sebastian Benitez, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Paraguay, has a vision for the city.
“We need the first Hispanic as mayor of Ogden,” he said. He also argues there should be another Latino member on the Ogden City Council, in addition to Luis Lopez.
Significantly, he pointed to the sizable population of Latinos in the city, nearly a third of the total. “My point about Hispanics is we are here. We are not just numbers. We are human. We are growing this country,” said Benitez, who ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat on the Ogden City Council.
Whether or when Ogden voters pick a Latino mayor remains to be seen, but Latinos and politics took center stage at a forum Monday hosted by the Weber County Republican Women. Benitez, who also waged an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Ogden in 2015, addressed the group along with Lopez and Ignacio Valdez, host of the conservative podcast “The Nacho Show.”
Lopez, now in his second term on the City Council, sees himself as a bridger of cultures, especially traditional American and Latino cultures. He’s a naturalized U.S. citizen from Guadalajara, Mexico. But in fostering involvement of Latino newcomers here, he said those with deeper roots need to take initiative as well.
“That would be great if you get an opportunity to learn more about the Hispanic culture if you haven’t,” Lopez said. “I feel like it goes both ways. I feel like the people in the mainstream American culture also need to take a step forward and say, ‘What can I do to get to know my neighbors better?'”
Valdez said he aims through his podcast to represent “the Hispanic side of things” within the Republican Party. He’s a naturalized U.S. citizen from Monterey, Mexico, and maintains that while the left in Latin America seems to dominate the media, most Latinos would probably align with the conservative movement if they delved more deeply into politics.
“Hispanics are conservative, they are,” said Valdez, who lives in Washington Terrace. “They just don’t know about it.”
In his remarks, Valdez put an emphasis on the importance of defending the U.S. Constitution and the American system.
“The system that we have here in America, it benefits everybody. It doesn’t just benefit people of one color. It benefits everybody. It’s benefited me,” he said.
Lorraine Brown, who heads Weber County Republican Women, noted relatively strong Latino turnout nationally in 2020 elections, contrasting that with low registration levels among Latinos in Utah relative to non-Hispanic whites.
“Latino voters are both ‘Majority Makers’ and a ‘Sleeping Giant.’ This is a phenomenon we need to understand,” she said in a Facebook post promoting Monday’s forum. Brown is a candidate in the GOP primary for the District 10 seat in the Utah House along with Jill Koford, who also attended Monday’s forum. Incumbent Rosemary Lesser is the Democratic hopeful.
Former Weber County Commissioner Kerry Gibson, who also attended Monday, echoed Lopez’s push to bolster interaction between the Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities. Lopez, he said, has helped him develop a more nuanced understanding of the Latino community here.
“I’ll be honest, I have learned more about the Hispanic culture because I finally took the time to really care and really understand and really listen,” said Gibson, who spoke during a question-and-answer period of Monday’s gathering. “What we have here is an opportunity to see and hear things that we don’t always see and hear and open our minds to realities that are very real.”
LUIS LOPEZ FOR MAYOR?
In encouraging Latino political participation, particularly as candidates, Benitez stressed the importance of staying power. He waged his bid for mayor in 2015 because Mike Caldwell, the incumbent and eventual winner, didn’t have an opponent.
“I don’t like when people run, they lose an election and they disappear. That happens many times,” he said.
In his case, Benitez was blown out by Caldwell in the 2015 race by a 79.7%-20.3% margin. “But after that, I continued, continued participating. I continued knocking the doors,” he said. “I am annoying.”
Last year, Benitez lost by a narrower 54.3%-45.7% margin to Bart Blair, the incumbent, in his bid for a City Council seat.
In arguing Ogden voters should tab a Latino to lead the city, Benitez threw his lot with Lopez. “I will not run for mayor. I wish Luis (would) run for mayor,” Benitez said. “I would help him. I would support him.”
Lopez didn’t say whether he’d be interested in running for mayor. Caldwell won his third term as mayor in 2019 and the next mayoral race is scheduled for 2023.
Aside from Lopez, the only other elected Latino official currently serving in Weber County is Arlene Anderson, a member of the Ogden school board.