LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Latin/Hispanic voters in Kentucky and the nation impacted Tuesday’s election. According to AP Votecast, while Kamala Harris won more than half of Hispanic voters, that support was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 Hispanic voters that Biden won.
Hispanic voters were more open to President-elect Donald Trump than they were in 2020.
“The Latin/Hispanic community is not a monolith. It is an incredibly diverse community made up of many different perspectives politically speaking, religiously, ethnically, nationally in all senses of the word, right? The Latin/Hispanic community it very, very diverse and I think this is one of the elections in which that came through maybe about as loud as it’s ever been heard.” Louisville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board Chair, David Lopez explained to Spectrum News 1.
According to the chamber, Kentucky’s Latin/Hispanic community has grown by 247% since 2020. Lopez said voters were thinking about immigration and education. He said the economy was top of mind for a lot of people.
“Latin/Hispanic folks were I think very much thinking about the economy, they were thinking about opportunity, they were thinking about the opportunities they have within their careers or within their small businesses or businesses that they own.” Lopez said.
Axios.com says President-elect Donald Trump was backed by 46% of Latino voters. Axios said that surpasses George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Edison Research says 54% of U.S. Latino male voters voted for Trump.
“I think a lot of us are asking the question about why. What is it about the message from the Republicans, from the Trump campaign that really resonated with lots of different groups of people, but particularly it seems young men.” Lopez explained “Our Latin/Hispanic community did not, absolutely did not only vote in one direction in this election.”
In terms of the future, Lopez said he and others aspire to see a day where the percentage of the population is reflected in elected officials. Particularly officials that hold the higher and senior positions, he said, like in Congress, the Senate, the presidency and more.
Lopez also said he thinks people are noticing, “Latin/Hispanic people are here, they’re voting, they are impacting the turnout of elections.”
