Prince William Reporter

Salvadoran-American Day was Aug. 6 and served as a topic of contention concerning Virginia’s top gubernatorial candidates.

Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe failed to recognize the day, while Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin made a concerted effort to recognize Salvadoran-American contributions to the Virginia community, GOP supporters note. Youngkin took to Twitter to thank the community in Spanish, stating that they have added great dynamism to the state.

“Our commonwealth has been shaped by the integral contributions of its thriving Salvadoran-American community,” Youngkin tweeted. “Virginia is great because of its rich and vibrant heritage, and this campaign continues to bring together Virginians of all backgrounds and ideologies every day.”

According to the American Immigration Council, the state's largest immigrant population comes from El Salvador, accounting for 12% of Virginia’s immigrant population.

Foreign-born individuals encompass 13% of the state's population, or approximately 1.1 million people, with 54% (573,998) of those immigrants having been naturalized as of 2018.

“Thank you so much @GlennYoungkin. Feliz Día del Salvadoreño to my hard working people,” the president of Salex tweeted.

Salex is a nonprofit organization in Manassas whose objective is to identify, unify and project the Salvadoran community that lives in the United States.

Youngkin's staff recently enjoyed a local Salvadoran festival Aug. 7 in Prince William County, which was hosted by the organization to keep the dialogue going. At the Salex Salvadoran festival, Latinos for Youngkin chairwoman Yesli Vega, along with co-chair Daniel Cortez, represented the Republican gubernatorial campaign.

“Over the past few days I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with Salvadoran employers in the region," Vega said on Facebook. "These men and women are ready to support leaders like Glenn Youngkin, (GOP lieutenant governor nominee) Winsome Sears and our first statewide Hispanic elected official, Jason Miyares, to fight for their small businesses and who share their values of faith, family and freedom.” 

“As a proud American of Hispanic descent and one of five generations of veterans who has given blood for his county, I vote the person not the party,” Cortez added. "Glenn Youngkin represents patriotic values our independent voting community respects. We stand with him. He’ll make a great Virginia governor.”