A surge in Latino voter turnout is drawing attention across Texas following Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Democrats made gains in key races, and advocates said Texas Latino voters played a significant role. It’s a group that’s emerged as swing voters over the years.
At Four Corners Brewing Company in Dallas, the hype of the midterm election results is still going strong.
“It was amazing,” said Brent Brown, a Dallas resident. “I woke up this morning and said there is an opportunity in this state to do things in a way that we haven’t done in a long time.”
With Democrats Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico taking the top tickets in Texas on Tuesday, voters said the blue wave across the state is an awakening for both parties.
“I think especially as a Latina, born and raised here in Dallas, like, you see and you hear that you can do everything you can, but until something happens where you’re having someone represent you that looks like you win this type of election, then you feel more hope,” said Miriam Morales, a voter and bar manager.
The key groups to contribute to the shift: young voters and Latinos. LULAC Leaders said the Latino vote, long described as a “sleeping giant,” showed up in force.
“Yesterday the Latino vote made history in Texas. To give you an example, about 900,000 Latinos voted in the last midterm elections in Texas,” said LULAC Chairman Domingo Garcia. “This election cycle, 1 million 600,000 Latinos voted, double the number that voted in the last midterm elections.”
According to CBS News exit polls, in 2024, Latino voters backed President Donald Trump by 10 points, but the group swung toward the Democrats in Tuesday’s race. The top issue for Latino voters in Texas was the economy, and about two-thirds of them said the Trump administration’s actions on immigration enforcement went too far.
“It does speak to, I think, a new sort of demographic reality that both parties are grappling with suddenly,” said Alvaro Corral, a University of Texas Rio Grande Valley assistant professor of political science. “We have a lot of, historically sort of non-voters in, obviously, in Texas, but then also in these sort of more lower-turnout regions of the state, and so there’s been a lot of, sort of, voters left on the table in these last couple of elections, right? And so if in the case of democrats yesterday, right, if you mobilize and activate either inactive non-voters, or you bring new voters to the polls, obviously that can really shift things drastically, like we saw last night.”
Voters like Morales said they’re encouraged by the turnout, but hope Latino voters continue their momentum beyond this election cycle.
“We have to keep this momentum going, every single day, every year, every four years, every election, because of not then we’re going to get slept on again,” said Morales. “Like they said, the sleeping giant… we’re going to get slept on all over again, and we’re not going to come through as a community I think that’s the biggest thing that needs to happen.”
