Read More
Latinos who helped re-elect Donald Trump turned on him in the midterms, irked by his unfulfilled pledges of lower prices and his aggressive crackdown on immigrants -- often other Latinos.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
From Texas to California and elsewhere, Latinos voted en masse for Democrats on Tuesday as the party came in from the political wilderness to seize control of the House and the Senate, in a stinging rebuke of Trump and his Republican Party.
Tuesday's Latino turnout will probably be the largest ever in a US midterm election, said Janet Murguia, president and CEO of UnidosUS, a Latino advocacy group.
Many Latinos voted for Trump in 2024 because he pledged to bring down prices, but he has failed to do so, she said.
They are also dead set against his "out-of-control mass deportation campaign and the abusive, violent, cruel tactics personified by ICE," Trump's immigration enforcers.
"In short, Latino voters sent a clear message about their anger and concern about the direction of our country," Murguia said at a press conference.
Even younger US-born Latinos who feel as American as they do connected to their parents' heritage said they could not stomach the nationwide crackdown by ICE, as Trump worked to deport millions, carrying out raids on construction sites and at times deporting people in chains and manacles.
- No sabo -
Texan Victor Bucio, 34, who can barely speak Spanish with his Mexican-born parents, is what Latinos call a 'no sabo.'
This is a play on a botched conjugation of the Spanish verb 'saber' -- to know -- and is used to indicate Latinos who struggle to speak the language of Miguel de Cervantes.
Bucio said it is great to see people take part in the election.
"It's just sad that it took such a massive event and something to affect them personally in order for them to actually get out and vote," he told AFP, alluding to the ICE raids.
"I don't know Spanish really well. I know it enough to speak to my mom consistently. So in that respect, I am a 'no sabo'."
However, he adds, young Latinos like himself understand what's going on in Trump's America.
"Those who don't know -- those 'no sabos' -- really do know," he says in Spanish.
An exit poll by NBC News said Democrats beat Republicans by about 30 percentage points among Latinos on Tuesday, up from five for Kamala Harris in 2024.
Latinos in Texas helped elect Gina Hinojosa, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, as Democratic governor, ending three decades of Republican rule there.
Latino voters were also celebrating the election of Xavier Becerra, who has Mexican roots, as Democratic governor of California.
Hinojosa said she recalled her abuela, or grandmother, telling her "no te dejes" -- Spanish for stand up for yourself, don't let yourself be pushed around.
"A lot of Latinas in Texas grew up hearing those same words from their own mothers. Their abuelas. This year we lived them, and we changed this state. And this win belongs to you and to them," Hinojosa said Tuesday night as she celebrated her victory.
- 'Yo Si Voto generation' -
Among Latinos aged 18 to 29, 70 percent voted for Democratic candidates for the House, according to CIRCLE, a research center at Tufts University in Boston.
In Latino-heavy Florida, Republicans survived the blue Democratic wave but only just barely.
Viviana Castro, a 67-year-old retiree originally from Venezuela, said she was "proud to have voted against that man," meaning Trump.
"The way he is treating immigrants is not very ethical, not very moral, and not what a human being deserves," Castro said in Florida, near Miami.
Yadira Sanchez, executive director of the advocacy group Poder LatinX, said young Latinos now know what they want. She noted the US-born children of people from Latin America being called "no sabo kids."
"But we don't call them that. We call them the Yo Si Voto generation" -- meaning "yes, I vote."
AFP
