AN JUAN, Texas (AP) — Latino voters shifted sharply to the left in the midterm elections, propelling Democrats to an improbable electoral sweep in Texas and in coast-to-coast House races.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a population that turned to President Donald Trump just two years ago.
“We showed our power and showed strength in this election,” said Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who won his New Mexico district by about 17 percentage points after winning by less than a percentage point in 2022.
Democrats took advantage of voters’ angst over rising prices and government corruption, riding a wave of frustration to regain control of the House and Senate.
Hispanics have joined in this decisive rejection of Trump and his Republican Party. In Texas, every county voted more Democratic than two years ago, when Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race. But the more heavily Hispanic the county, the greater the change generally.
“This is our lightbulb moment, where we were able to make historic gains that we probably never imagined, 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’re going to do that is by tackling the issues that mattered most to people.”
Republicans lost gains Trump made among Hispanic voters in 2024
About a third of Hispanic voters said they supported the Republican in their race for the U.S. House of Representatives, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 midterm voters, while about 4 in 10 voted for Trump two years ago.
The shift was particularly pronounced in Texas, where voters gave up a Senate seat and the governor’s office to Democrats, as well as every statewide office on the ballot.
About 7 in 10 Hispanic voters supported Democrat James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race, while only 3 in 10 voted for Republican Ken Paxton. The group was essentially split in the 2024 presidential election, according to AP VoteCast, an in-depth survey of voters and nonvoters.
The shift among younger Hispanics was even more pronounced, with swings of about 20 percentage points in Talarico’s favor among Hispanic voters under 65 in Texas.
Cindy Candia, a 56-year-old lifelong Democrat, was thrilled to see her party achieve success for the first time in 20 years of living in Texas. She was particularly excited about the new governor, Gina Hinojosa, who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, where Candia currently lives.
“She’s a woman, she’s Hispanic, she’s from Brownsville, and I don’t think anyone thought Texas would vote for this, for this type of person,” Candia said.
Democrats won every House district touching the U.S.-Mexico border — which includes seats in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California — for the first time since 2008.
Even in the Florida Senate race, where Republican Sen. Ashley Moody narrowly won re-election, less than half of Hispanic voters supported Moody, even though Trump had decisively won that group two years earlier with 55 percent of Hispanic support.
In southwest Kansas, three majority-Hispanic counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump decided to support Adam Hamilton, who became the first Democrat in nearly a century to win a U.S. Senate race in the state. Turnout also jumped 27% from 2022 in the three counties, Finney, Ford and Seward.
Fourteen Hispanic Democrats were newly elected Tuesday, including ten in districts currently represented by Republicans or that were redrawn to favor the GOP. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus will have more members than ever, said Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, chairwoman of the caucus’ campaign arm, CHC BOLD PAC.
Latino voters want someone who “understands their issues” to represent them at the Capitol, said Leticia Gutierrez, a Democrat who won a Houston-area House district that Texas Republicans redrew in an unsuccessful bid to win five more seats in the state.
“I’m going to take all these things with me to Washington so I can have this goal,” Gutierrez said.
Manny Rutinel, a Democrat who defeated Republican Gabe Evans in Colorado, said voters responded to his life story, believing he understood their economic concerns after growing up in a family that sometimes struggled to make ends meet.
“I think they elected me because they know that for me it’s deeply personal,” Rutinel said.
Democrats can’t take Latino voters for granted
In House districts where at least a quarter of the voting age population is Hispanic, the Democratic share in Tuesday’s midterms was on average about 11 percentage points higher than Harris’ performance in 2024. In contrast, other House districts saw an average gain of 7 percentage points.
In majority-Hispanic counties, Democratic Senate candidates outperformed their party’s 2024 results by more than 15 percentage points.
Latinos have been particularly hard hit by Trump’s immigration crackdown, which was a major issue alongside economic concerns in some of the most Latino districts.
Although 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 control.
“Everyone voted for him, but the people who voted for him, he locks them up,” said Elton Reid, a 44-year-old Latino voter and full-time caregiver for his father in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Like he promised them the world, and he didn’t keep it, and now he’s locking them up.”
Reid voted for Democrats in his battleground district, where Democrat Bob Brooks defeated Republican Ryan McKenzie.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, a Latino Democrat, warned that a shift toward Democrats depends on the party following through on its campaign promises.
“They saw a betrayal on Trump’s part after giving him a chance in 2024,” Tuerk said. “And they went with the Democrats, and now they’re giving them a chance.”
“But,” he added, “they’re on probation.”
Catalini and Cooper reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Linley Sanders, Aaron Kessler and Humeri Lodhi in Washington; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Erik Verduzco in York, South Carolina; Fabianna Rincon in New York; and Tassanee Vejpongsa in Allentown, Pa., contributed.
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