The fastest-growing voting bloc in America is Latinos, and for the first time they are a swing bloc. A new report projects about 17.5 million Latinos will cast ballots this November, a 6.5% increase from the 2020 election. At the same time, non-Hispanic voter turnout is projected to rise by only 1.5%. Conventional wisdom says this surge in Latino voters is good for the Democratic Party, but the conventional wisdom is not what it used to be. "As Hispanics become more economically upwardly mobile, they're moving out of urban areas and into the suburbs and rural areas of Texas," says Orlando Sanchez, founder of Texas Latino Conservatives. "And they're voting like their neighbors...that means, they're voting conservative."
Recent trends confirm what Sanchez is saying. Heavily Hispanic districts in Texas have been trending Republican in recent years, and a new University of Houston poll finds Donald Trump leading Joe Biden for president among Texas Hispanics. Sanchez tells KTRH Democrats have misread Latino voters on many issues, starting with the economy. "Our polling shows Hispanics see the Democratic Party as the party of handouts, and Hispanics don't want handouts, they want economic opportunity," he says.
But perhaps the biggest issue where Democrats have failed to read the room on Hispanics is the border. "I'm a property owner in Kinney County, Texas, which is a border county," says Sanchez. "And our residents detest illegal immigration for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is the economic impact on our small communities with limited resources."
All of this adds up to a golden opportunity for Republicans, especially in Texas, to flip the Latino vote this November. But Sanchez warns the GOP can't make the same mistake as Democrats and take Latinos for granted. "The trends we're seeing portend well for conservatives," he says. "But (Republicans) have to message them...they have to deliver a message as to why it's important for these voters to vote their values."