Biden's economy: Are Latinos about to hand the GOP wins in AZ and NV?

AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

Long one of the core constituencies for the Democratic party, the Latino community across the Southwest has begun to rumble in ways that has left the Left baffled and, in many cases, quaking over the possible ramifications. A good percentage of them, of all age and socioeconomic levels, are moving to the right and into the ideological arms, if not outright registered voter ranks, of Republicans.

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During the 2020 election, President Trump increased the Latino support he’d received 4 years prior, and did so across the board.

…Even as Latino voters played a meaningful role in tipping the Senate and the presidency to the Democrats last year, former President Donald J. Trump succeeded in peeling away significant amounts of Latino support, and not just in conservative-leaning geographic areas, according to a post-mortem analysis of the election that was released on Friday.

Conducted by the Democratically aligned research firm Equis Labs, the report found that certain demographics within the Latino electorate had proved increasingly willing to embrace Mr. Trump as the 2020 campaign went on, including conservative Latinas and those with a relatively low level of political engagement.

Using data from Equis Labs’ polls in a number of swing states, as well as focus groups, the study found that within those groups, there was a shift toward Mr. Trump across the country, not solely in areas like Miami or the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where the growth in Mr. Trump’s Latino support has been widely reported.

“In 2020, a segment of Latino voters demonstrated that they are more ‘swing’ than commonly assumed,” the report stated.

Ultimately, Mr. Trump outperformed his 2016 showing among Latino voters, earning the support of about one in three nationwide, even as Joseph R. Biden Jr. won those voters by a roughly two-to-one margin over all, according to exit polls.

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It should have been a warning shot across the bow for national Democrats, who also lost a sizeable chunk of their African-American voters to the GOP, but…no. They continued on their merry, smug “Hola, my LATINX friend!” way. Ignoring every warning sign that the policies they were ardently pursuing, and robustly endorsing were not policies that the Latino community was in favor of, however much the languages spoken by illegals at the border might be similar, Democrats have spent the past 2 years flooding the country with migrants, facilitating a skyrocketing crime wave, attempting to legislate anti-family school and transgender ideologies as law of the land, pursuing an active war on people of faith, and methodically destroying a vibrant American economy.

All the while, Democrats pandered to some Progressive academic fantasies when dealing directly with the community itself, reimaging them as “LatinX” – a phony baloney appellation Latinos have repeatedly and emphatically said they abhor – and lecturing them on their wonderful culture from a privileged, fractured Spanglish, DOCTOR Jill Biden viewpoint.

Si, se pudding! You are all my breakfast tacos, now!

Oddly, despite the charming outreach, many Hispanics have had enough. They’ve watched the small businesses they’ve created and household budgets be decimated by her husband’s inflationary moves, watched their border towns, homes, and schools be overrun by hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants while lily white progressive enclaves get spruced up within hours of a single busload arriving. Working folks know what a gallon of gas for their vehicle costs now vs two years ago, and they also know we did “drill our way out” of energy dependency on foreign oil. They can also count – it only took a year and a half to lose it all. Their lyin’ eyes saw their livelihood being flushed by lockdowns, and watched their children suffer from repeated school closures, doing God knows what developmental harm while costing their kids a desperately need education – both of which kept them from working. And they do want to work.

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Nancy Pelosi certainly made no inroads in the current state of disaffection with Democrats when she blithely asserted what sort of work, besides lawn maintenance and service industry, they all do.

…“Right now, the best thing that we can do for our economy is comprehensive immigration reform,” Pelosi told reporters after being asked if she thought the southern border was secure following more than two million arrests of illegal crossers over the past 12 months.

“We have a shortage of workers in our country, and you see even in Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying: ‘Why are you shipping these immigrants up north? We need them to pick the crops down here,’” she mused.

The arrogance of this chica, no? Obviously, an incurable case of hoof and mouth disease.

Two of the Texas border congressional districts are on the cusp of flipping firmly to the GOP. Republican Mayra Flores is defending her upset win in the 34th district special election. 9-term Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar in the 28th is a dogfight for his seat with former Ted Cruz assistant Cassie Garcia (He’s also under a federal corruption investigation.). The race is now rated “leans Red.”

In Nevada, once firmly in control of the SEIU’s Democratic union organizing machine, there is real concern.

Nevada Democrats see signs of nightmare scenario: Latino voters staying home
It’s what’s keeping me up at night,” said Melissa Morales, president of Somos PAC, which backs Cortez Masto. The state’s ultra-competitive contest could be key to Senate control.

But with only 37 days until the midterm elections, there are warning signs: At the doors, on the phones and on the streets, Latinos are threatening to stay home. And that is despite the presence of the first-ever Latina elected to the U.S. Senate, Catherine Cortez Masto, at the top of the ballot.

Organizers in both parties say they see the same phenomenon developing, as do major Latino groups and the powerful Culinary Workers Union: Disgruntled over the economy and unhappy with their post-pandemic job quality, these voters, many of whom Democratic groups identify as once lifelong supporters, could sit this one out. That’s on top of the usual challenges of turning out voters for midterm elections.

…In the near term, the stakes are high. By some measures, Democrats need to carry two-thirds of the Latino vote if they’re to retain the Senate seat that could determine which party claims the Senate, and a governor’s seat that has implications for how the 2024 presidential race is handled in the state. The contest between Cortez Masto and Republican Adam Laxalt appears within the margin of error — and that’s even after Cortez Masto vastly outspent Laxalt before Labor Day. Republicans have long viewed the race as their best pickup opportunity but it’s now all the more critical that Democrats hold down the seat as races have tightened in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

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It’s said that Nevada Democrats need 2/3s of the Latino voters to show up to beat off a GOP challenge. If they’re mad enough to stay home? The RCP average has Laxalt ahead in the senate race by 2.2 points right now, Trafalgar group by a smidge over 4. That could be the ballgame.

In Arizona, RCP still has incumbent space cadet Mark Kelly (D) running ahead of Blake Masters by 4-5 points, but with Kari Lake torching her opposition in the governor’s race, could there be coattails enough to pull Masters along? NBC News was concerned enough to send Jose Diaz-Balart on a fact-finding, interviews-on-the-ground mission they aired Sunday night.

Across the Southwest, signs that Latino voters are shifting their focus to the issues instead of sticking to one political party

The message, while soberly delivered, is 100% “AY DIOS MIO!,” believe you me. Absolutely straightforward and not ONE of the Republicans was the backwoods Gomer-caricature they are so fond of dressing up and trotting out. At this juncture, would they dare? MSNBC would, but NOT Telemundo.

Which also tells you they are sweating bullets, and desperate to wake Democrats up.

I think it’s the opposite. Latinos have woken up.

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Jazz Shaw 7:20 PM | March 18, 2024
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