What's the Connection?

Advertising
Representative Veronica Escobar is a freshman representative therefore advertising may be very important for her in order to get her name out but not necessarily only in her district. Escobar has been elected in her district previously as the County Commissioner and County Judge. However that does not stop her from trying to connect with her constituents and let them get to know who she is. She is very active on Twitter, where she shares aspects of her life so her constituents and even others outside her district can get to know her. She tries to relate to her audience, such as this Tweet talking about her cats and the US-Mexico border, this Tweet where she talks about a current film, or even this Tweet inviting her constituents of El Paso to visit her office. She has not done many interviews that show her advertising but she did do an interview during campaigning with the El Paso Times in which she is asked what is one thing that voters don't know about her is. Her response is that she loves gardening and cooking, both which reveal a bit of herself to her constituents. Beto O'Rourke even did some advertising for her during her campaign as he made a campaign ad for her in Spanish, which is the language many people in her district speak since her district is right next to the border. This shows people that she both has connections as well as that she knows the people of her district.

Additionally, Representative Veronica Escobar also announced that she will be the assistant House Majority whip in this press release. Even becoming the assistant whip will create name recognition for her as she begins her career in the federal government.


Position Taking
Representative Escobar is very good at position taking. She is from a pretty homogeneous district, which makes her positions pretty simple generally. Living along United States-Mexico border means there is a majority Hispanic population in her district, 79.3% to be exact. Because of this, position taking regarding immigration and "The Wall" is not extremely difficult for her. In fact, it is one of the main reasons she was elected. On her campaign website under her platform, both "Protecting and Expanding Our Economy" and, of course, "Supporting Immigration Reform" have to do with taking a position on immigration and the southern border. On February 21st, this press release came out where she makes a statement regarding militarization of the US-Mexico border. She took a position on Trump's "xenophobic policies" which resonate with both her and her district. In another press release, Rep. Escobar's team lets her constituents know that she sent a letter to Trump requesting he correct his statement in which he said that El Paso is "one of the most dangerous cities." She takes this position on Trump's statement, saying that this statement was false and should be corrected. Rep. Escobar takes this position for herself and for her constituents, which makes her constituents react more positively to her. She even made her letter available for everyone to view. So far in the 116th Congress, she has not sponsored any legislation but she has cosponsored 29 bills. Being able to cosponsor these bills is a way for her to show that these are the positions she is taking on these topics and she is showing her constituents that this is what she is supporting.


Credit Claiming
Even as a freshman representative, credit claiming is important for Representative Escobar to gain more recognition and already start working on reelection, even if her constituents don't even realize she is doing it. Even starting small with credit claiming, she had a press release that said "Democrats stand ready to deliver on our promise to put hardworking families first and return power to the people." She claims credit with the Democrats to show any of her Democratic constituents or followers that she did that and that her and her Democratic co-workers of Congress were able to get the 'For The People Act 2019' in place instead of the Republicans. Rep. Veronica Escobar also is working to take credit for preserving Fort Bliss, which has historical significance to El Paso. Taking credit for this would mean her district would likely be grateful for the steps she was able to take.