The silver lining, however, is that more Latinos in Republican ranks ostensibly counters “racialization” — the division of US political preferences along racial lines. That could be good for the country in the long run.

With a higher number of Latino votes in play, it is possible some Republicans will modify their nativist approach to immigration — and identity politics more generally — to appeal to a more diverse electorate in states like Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Indeed, this was the Bush campaign’s strategy in the 2004 election.

But this seems unlikely in the face of an alternative reality.

Far more ominously, it is possible that the recent shift of some Latinos is not the twilight of America’s racialization, but in fact the path by which it might endure.

As Latinos settle and integrate, fewer are likely to think of themselves as immigrants, and may increasingly embrace an expanded sense of White identity in the way earlier light-skinned ethnic groups have over the course of US history. Already, 60% of US-born Latinos self-identify as White — White Hispanics — on US census surveys.