The Los Angeles Times has indicated that former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan has started an outreach effort toward Hispanics in California for the Republican Party. What is surprising is Riordan is white, not Hispanic.

Regardless, the Republicans are in need of any kind of help they can get in California with respect to winning the Hispanic vote. Between 1994 and 2010, the average percentage of Hispanic voters to vote for a GOP presidential and gubernatorial candidate was just 25%. Hispanics are now 38% of the local population and represent 20% of the voter electorate.

In just a few years time, Hispanics will easily pass Caucasians as the state’s large ethnic group. One problem the Republicans have is their public face. The party only has 19 of 53 state congressional seats, 15 of 40 state Senate positions and only 28 seats in the state’s Assembly consisting of 80 members. None of them is Hispanic.

Even when Republicans do nominate a Hispanic to run for state office, they still get defeated. Historically, it is ironic since the first Hispanic to represent California in Congress was Romualdo Pacheco who was elected as a Republican in 1876.  However, California Republicans have not elected a Hispanic to Congress in 136 years, since Pacheco.

The Census from 2010 does not show any good news for Republicans in California. Half of the 58 counties in the state increased in Hispanic population from between 40 and 100% since the last census in 2000. Sixteen counties increased between 30 and 40%, while seven increased between 20 and 30%. Only one county in the state, Alpine the state’s smallest county, lost residents of Hispanic descent over the last 10 years.