Hispanics helped Trump win. Here’s how Republicans build on those gains
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One of the biggest factors in President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory was his historic support from Hispanics. Almost single-handedly, Trump has remade the GOP into a multi-racial, working-class party.
According to NBC exit polls, Trump won 46% of the Hispanic vote, a dramatic improvement over his 32% in 2020. He defeated George W. Bush’s previous Republican highwater mark of 40% in 2004.
Trump won Hispanic men by 12 points. And he won the Florida Hispanic vote outright with 58%. Trump’s total in historically Democratic Starr County, Texas, which is 97% Latino, went from 19% in 2016 to 57% in 2024.
Not even hardcore Republican partisans could have predicted this historic political realignment. Yet, I’ve long argued Hispanics’ values of faith, family, hard work and entrepreneurship make them a natural GOP constituency.
President-elect Donald Trump and his family are gearing up to return to the White House. FILE: The Trump family, Donald, Melania and Barron, arrive at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In the words of Sen. Ted Cruz, “Our Hispanic communities aren’t just leaving the Democrat Party — they’re coming home to conservative values they never left.”
Two years ago, I wrote a book explaining how Hispanics are the biggest victims of big government policy and disproportionately benefit from free markets. Nowhere has this thesis proved truer than during the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations.
Consider this striking statistic: According to US Census Bureau data, real median Hispanic household income grew $6,500 between 2017 and 2019, 10 times faster than between 2021 and 2023 under Biden-Harris.
Hispanics ignored the campaign and mainstream media rhetoric calling Trump a racist and focused on the records of these administrations when casting their votes.
Latinos have been on the front lines of the American economic and social decay presided over by Biden-Harris. They were especially hurt by historic inflation because they are less likely to hold assets.
The high gas prices of the last few years also impacted Hispanics who often make their living driving from job to job, in contrast to the elite laptop class who often work from home.
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Hispanics are also more likely to live in working-class neighborhoods where high crime and public disorder have reduced quality of life. The shoplifters, vagrants and menacing thugs don’t generally venture into the wealthy White suburbs. George Gascon, the pro-crime District Attorney in heavily Latino Los Angeles, lost his reelection bid.
Cultural and faith issues also mattered. Hispanics are religious and were turned off by the left’s obsession with transgender issues. Trump’s closing ad, “Kamala’s agenda is ‘they-them,’ not you,'” resonated with these voters.
President-elect Donald Trump worked hard at reaching Hispanic voters. FILE: Trump reacts during a Univision Noticias town hall event on October 16, 2024, in Doral, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Republicans also had grassroots help. The Job Creators Network Foundation started the Hispanic Vote Coalition earlier this year to motivate Hispanics to vote their values. We went into Hispanic areas of swing states with Spanish advertisements, media and materials for small businesses, faith and community leaders. We found a receptive audience willing to engage in political issues and sick of being talked down to and taken for granted by Democrats.
The question now is whether Republicans can consolidate and build on these gains among Hispanic voters. No doubt Democrats will make a strong push to recapture them in future elections.
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To do so, conservatives need to continue to engage with and reach out to this constituency with tailored messages between election cycles, not just during them. We need a permanent Hispanic engagement infrastructure to make these voters part of our coalition for the long term.
The degree to which conservatives can accomplish this will determine whether Trump’s victorious, multi-racial GOP survives past his leadership. But, for now, welcome Hispanics to their new political home.
