Superstar Mexican rock band Maná endorsed President Barack Obama on a crowded athletic field of a Las Vegas high school Sunday.
The support and song set came where Obama spoke to more than 11,000 people that same evening: Desert Pines High School, set in a largely Hispanic neighborhood in a swing state, where Hispanic voters stand to sway the election.
“We have the conviction that Obama is the best candidate for all Latinos,” Maná frontman Fher Olvera said in Spanish, pointing to Obama’s plans for health care, education, and the DREAM Act. “Vote for the president who has cared most for Latinos and minorities.”
The event, scheduled a week before online voter registration ends in Nevada and three weeks before early voting begins, came as both Republican and Democratic parties are investing heavily in the region’s Spanish-language TV and radio airtime.
Maná is known for pushing civic participation from the stage, and has worked closely with the nonpartisan Voto Latino organization in recent months to hold on-site voter registration during their concerts. In a press conference after the show, the band characterized their efforts less as political activism than a humanitarian effort for immigrants.
