Latino Pragmatist Runs for Mayor of Lebanon
César B. Liriano embodies the striving, entrepreneurial spirit of generations of immigrants. Like many Hispanics, he came from the Dominican Republic by way of New York City and found rural Lebanon, Pennsylvania appealing. He bought a three-apartment building, lived in one, and rented out the others. His family loaned him the money for a downpayment, including $27 from a sister’s piggy bank. Four years later, he paid them back. Now he wants to repay his community by running for mayor of Lebanon County’s only city.
Liriano is a staunch Democrat, though his program would be familiar to many Republicans: the city should provide quality services, promote small businesses, and be free from corruption.
Likewise, his life story has many elements familiar to Main Street Republicans. He and his wife are small-business owners; he’s active in his church and volunteers as a coach in youth sports. Moreover, he believes that people should take more responsibility for themselves and their communities. In short, he espouses values that used to be mainstream Republican ones.
So I asked him why he wasn’t running as a Republican.
He argued that Democrats are trying to solve problems.
“Every time you read that somebody is trying to create a program, you see that the Democrats are behind it. You hear the Republican trying to eliminate those programs. Like Food Stamps, here’s the thing, most of the people that use the program are not even the immigrants. They are white … immigrants are the minority. … Republicans always are talking about eliminating these kinds of programs because some people are abusing it. Wait a minute. What are you talking about? A lot of people need those programs. Let’s fix it. If you can tell me how to make it work, I’m with you. But if you’re talking about eliminating it, and a lot of people are going to suffer from that, I cannot join you. That’s why I belong to the Democratic Party.”
Lebanon is a small city, with around 26,000 residents. Forty-five percent are Hispanic, although a smaller proportion are voters since some are not citizens and many citizens are under 18. Moreover, Hispanics don’t tend to turn out in high proportions at the polls. So in the mayoral race of 2021, 2,800 voters came to the polls, and Liriano won just 41% of the vote.
He discussed the reasons for this civic indifference.
“People come over here, and they concentrate on working. You know, I have to pay my bills and take care of my kids.”
Ironically, many of the Hispanics in Lebanon come from places with high levels of voting.
“In the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, you sometimes have to wait in huge line for hours to vote. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, or if it’s really hot, they can be there for three, four hours in the line to do it.”
Part of the solution to civic disengagement is to make local government more service-oriented. He expects public employees to communicate to taxpayers that they respect everyone. “It’s the same thing with the police,” he says. “On the side of their car it reads Serve and Protect. Okay, so if you’re going to be serving and protecting the community, treat the people with respect, because I want the people to respect the police. You know, they are risking their lives on the street.”
Liriano says that his party has a messaging problem, that it needs to be frank with voters who are cynical and often confused. Without invoking John McCain, he essentially argues that Democrats can win if they infuse more “straight talk” into their campaigns. He told me that he is willing to tell the truth and lose; he’ll be able to live with himself. Of course, he also exudes confidence that he will win.
We’ll know in a few months if his strategy pays off.
