Latino voters moved sharply to the left in the midterm elections, propelling Democrats to an improbable electoral sweep in Texas and in battleground House races from coast to coast.
It’s a remarkable pivot for a demographic that had shifted toward President Donald Trump just two years ago.
“We showed our power and flexed our muscle during this election,” said Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who won his battleground district in New Mexico by around 17 percentage points after winning by less than 1 percentage point in 2022.
Democrats capitalized on voters’ angst over rising prices and government corruption, riding a wave of frustration to retake control of the House and the Senate.
Hispanics joined in that decisive repudiation of Trump and his Republican Party. In Texas, every county voted more Democratic than it did two years ago, when Trump beat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race. But the more heavily Hispanic the county, generally the heavier the shift.
“This is our lightning-in-the-bottle moment, that we were able to make such historic gains that we probably never conjured, especially here in Texas,” said Johnny Garcia, a sheriff’s deputy who won a newly created House district in the San Antonio area where Trump won by 10 percentage points in 2024. “The only way we did that is by going after the issues that were meaning the most to people.”
Democrats can’t take Latino voters for granted
In House districts where at least a quarter of the citizen voting-age population is Hispanic, the Democratic share in Tuesday’s midterms averaged about 11 percentage points higher than Harris’ 2024 performance. By contrast, other House districts saw a 7-percentage-point gain on average.
In majority-Hispanic counties, Democratic Senate candidates exceeded their party’s 2024 results by more than 15 percentage points.
Latinos have been especially affected by Trump’s immigration crackdown, which was a prominent issue alongside economic concerns in some of the most heavily Latino districts.
Though Trump’s promise to arrest and deport immigrants living in the country illegally was popular during his campaign, Americans now disapprove of his approach to immigration enforcement.
“Everybody voted for him, but the people that voted for him, he’s locking them up,” said Elton Reid, a 44-year-old Latino voter and full-time caregiver for his father in Allentown. “Like he promised them the world, and he didn’t come through with it, and now he’s locking them up.”
Reid voted for Democrats in his battleground district, where Democrat Bob Brooks defeated Republican Rep. Ryan McKenzie.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, a Latino Democrat, warned that the shift toward Democrats hinges on the party keeping campaign pledges.
“They saw betrayal from Trump after they gave him a chance in 2024,” Tuerk said. “And they went with the Democrats, and they’re giving them a chance now.”
“But,” he added, “they’re on probation.”
