GOP congressional hopeful slams ‘reprehensible’ George Soros-funded liberal takeover of Hispanic radio

Congressional candidate George Santos, R-N.Y., feels it's "reprehensible" that a group partially bankrolled by liberal billionaire George Soros is set to purchase 18 Hispanic radio stations across 10 different markets across the United States. 

Santos believes Soros is attempting to ensure Latinos vote for Democrats by silencing conservative thought, but he’s not so sure the costly strategy will pay off. 

"Latinos are going to continue to flee the Democratic Party for one reason and one reason only – common sense," Santos told Fox News Digital. "They need to feed their kids. They need to give their kids formula. They need to pay for gas. They need to pay for rent. They need to go buy groceries." 

The formation of the Latino Media Network, a new network set to be made up of the 18 Hispanic radio stations, was announced last week, and was partially financed by Lakestar Finance, an investment group affiliated with Soros Fund Management. The deal is pending regulatory approval but is expected to close later this year. 

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Once the deal closes, the Soros-backed group would control stations in several major markets, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas and New York. Santos, who is running in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, blasted the move as a desperate attempt to influence upcoming elections. 

"It's yet another desperate attempt of the left using their dark money to silence conservative thought," Santos said. "I think it’s reprehensible that George Soros would want to silence us."  

Jess Morales Rocketto, a former Hillary for America and AFL-CIO employee, and Stephanie Valencia, a former White House staffer during the Obama administration, are heading the $60 million venture, and say their purchase across the multitude of media markets will give them "access to one-third of the Hispanic population" within the U.S, according to Axios.

"I believe Soros is not only trying to silence conservative voices, he's trying to push his regurgitated nonsense from the left on Latinos, on people who are undecided, people who are not sure. But here's the one thing I can say that he can't change – he can't change $5 national average of a gallon of gas," Santos said. "And guess what? Latinos are hardworking people and they work every day and very hard. They come to this country in pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

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Miami’s Radio Mambí, a conservative talk station popular among voters whose families fled communist Cuba, is among the stations that could be controlled by the liberal group funded by Soros. 

"They’re the last standing conservative radio station in the state – that's Latino, obviously, Latino conservative station – and to have Soros make a play for that, that just shows how desperate they are that the conservatives are gaining the momentum with the Latinos," Santos said.

Santos noted that many Latinos in America have fled countries with socialist views, so he expects them to see right through liberal talking points that could be placed on the stations, but Soros should be "ashamed" nonetheless. 

"We should start barring him from being able to take such anti-American moves against our people," Santos said. 

While many younger Americans might dismiss the looming takeover of Hispanic talk radio, Santos thinks it’s important to remember that AM radio still attracts a large audience. 

"There's still millions of people in this country, especially in rural America, that still tune in to AM radio," he said. "Especially the older generations, they enjoy that level of entertainment. And quite frankly, it's one of the last few places you can get unfiltered, uncensored conservative talk points." 

Santos believes that most voters already have a political ideology that isn’t likely to change because of new management at their preferred talk radio station, but is aware "repetition" could slowly impact people’s views. 

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"If they're going to start hammering in this nonsensical message through their very trustworthy radio station it might start to skew," he said. "But I have faith in all the people, and I think I have faith in the American people as a whole, whether whatever background you're from, and I think Latinos are very strong in their decision-making because they want freedom. That's all they want. They want freedom and opportunity for them and their kids and their family."

Santos ultimately feels Soros’ talk radio takeover won’t do "too much damage" but it would certainly harm conservatives because they would be stripped of a popular escape. 

"It would take away entertainment from us," Santos said. "It would reduce us to having one less avenue of entertainment… the reality is, Soros can try as hard as he wants. I don't foresee him being successful in swaying the Latino vote because I think the Latino vote in America is tired of being fooled." 

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Santos considers himself a "multi-diverse mutt," because his mother’s family is from Ukraine and Belgium and his father’s side migrated from a former Portuguese colony in Africa to Brazil, where his dad grew up. The Spanish-speaking Republican says he is essentially Latino, not Hispanic, but his ancestry makes him "as American as they come" and he embraces his diverse background. 

"I embrace it because that's part of the big melting pot that is New York City, that is part of the big melting pot that is the United States," he said. 

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.