Hispanic business leader Carlos Medina of Morris County is in the discussion to run on a statewide ticket with Kim Guadagno, the Republican nominee for Governor, according to two sources with knowledge of Guadagno’s thinking.

A graduate of Rutgers University and Rutgers School of Law, Chairman of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Medina has served on the Boards of the NJ Economic Development Authority, the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, and The Super Bowl 2014 Host Committee Business Connect. A graduate of Rutgers Law School, he serves on the Board of Directors for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Medina and Guadagno are friends, and a source told InsiderNJ that he has a favorable view of her leadership on Latino business issues.

Half Puerto Rican and half Cuban, born in Union City, he’s an independent, who is a fiscal conservative and progressive on social issues.

A source told InsiderNJ that he and Guadagno have planned a sit-down amid rumors of LG as their most pressing topic of conversation.

The source, moreover, noted Democratic front-runner Phil Murphy’s resistance to getting into the speaker’s fight on behalf of Speaker Vincent Prieto, also noted here – an Hispanic – and argued for an opportunity in Medina by Guadagno to corral and galvanize Hispanic voters. The source pushed backed against an old 287-G narrative that clings to Guadagno from her days as sheriff of Monmouth County, which Murphy could easily kick-start against her in open season as a way of blunting and deadening any Hispanic fervor for her cause.

The majority of Latino voters are still Puerto Rican, the source said, and to them 287-G is a minor issue.