Coakley, Baker tout support in black, Latino communities

Gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley rallies the crowd at a rally held at Hibernian Hall Sunday. Coakley supporters pledged to mobilize voters in Boston’s black and Latino communities during the event. (Banner photo)

With polls showing Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker in a dead heat for governor, both campaigns have ratcheted up operations in Boston’s predominantly black and Latino communities.

Coakley kicked off the week Sunday with a rally of black and Latino elected officials at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury, calling on supporters to join a massive, grass roots get-out-the-vote effort.

At the Banner’s press time, Baker was scheduled to hold an endorsement press conference with black community supporters including nonprofit director Robert Lewis, former Judge Joyce London Alexander, Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers President Larry Ellison, and Republican activists Rachel Kemp and Robert Fortes.

While Baker is looking to make inroads among communities of color in Massachusetts, Coakley holds the clear advantage, with the support of virtually every black elected official in the city and Gov. Deval Patrick, who told the crowd at Hibernian Hall that the attorney general would continue his legacy in the corner office.

“You’ve got one candidate talking about tax cuts and another talking about early childhood education. That’s as obvious as it gets,” Patrick told the crowd Sunday. “We’ve got to be about common destiny and common good, and Martha has shown through her whole career that she has been about the common good.”

Among those in the auditorium Sunday were activists and officials with the power to mobilize hundreds of volunteers. State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry said she is making her two campaign offices in Dorchester’s Lower Mills and in South Boston available for the coordinated campaigns of Coakley and other candidates for statewide office.

“We need to support the Democratic ticket,” she said. “We have 36 days to get out the vote.”

Also participating in the coordinated campaign is Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins, who faces a challenge from independent candidate Hassan Williams.

“We’re focused on getting out the vote and making sure that people have the literature to understand the candidates’ stands on the issues,” Tompkins said. “We’re going to work diligently and collectively to get people out of their homes and into the polling places.”

Tompkins said he had more than 100 volunteers working on his race in the Democratic primary.

“The vast majority of folks have asked to work on behalf of the coordinated campaign,” he said.

Also present at the rally were leaders of two Service Employees International Union Locals with large memberships in the state’s black and Latino communities: Local 32 BJ and 1199.

Local 32 BJ District Leader Roxanna Rivera said her local’s members in East Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, Lawrence , Lynn, Brockton and Springfield would be canvassing their respective communities on behalf of the Democratic ticket, alongside their work on ballot question 4, which proposes mandatory earned sick time for Massachusetts workers.

“Folks are very excited about being part of this race,” she said.

Among Baker supporters there is less talk of the ground game and more talk about the Republican nominee’s merits as a candidate.

“He’s been in communities of color more in his short time running than the attorney general has in her whole time in office,” Ellison said, noting that Baker has met with MAMLEO twice.

Ellison says he also likes Baker’s pledge to cut taxes and, and the candidate’s experience in the private sector.

“Charlie Baker has created jobs for people,” he said. “In communities of color, people are looking for jobs, not handouts.”

Political activist Kevin Peterson said he supports Baker’s emphasis on moving people off the welfare rolls and into work.

“I support his efforts around welfare reform, job creation for black men and access to small businesses for those who are currently locked out of building wealth,” Peterson said. “The party he is in does not matter. What matters are the positions he takes on the issues that impact black people.”

As much of a boost as Baker will likely get from the endorsement of black supporters, Coakley plans to round out the week with an appearance from First Lady Michelle Obama, who is scheduled to appear with the candidate at the Strand Theater Friday at 11 a.m.

“I look forward to joining the First Lady and thousands of our grassroots supporters in Uphams Corner, to discuss how we will turn our economy around for all of our families,” Coakley said in a press statement.