“Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx.’” — U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY)
Rep. Torres is correct. President Trump was elected in large part due to a long-term shift in ethnic and working-class votes from the Democrats to the GOP in Texas and elsewhere. A key factor was the shift of votes from Latino and Black men to Trump, who presents a “macho” image to many of those voters. This column will zero in on the Hispanic vote.
Nationally, Trump won only 28% of the Latino vote in 2016, but that was up to 46% by 2024. The move towards MAGA was even more dramatic in Texas, where 55% of Latinos voted for Trump in 2024 versus only 34% in 2016.
In Nueces County, Trump triumphed, 55% to 44%, a difference of about 14,000 votes. Rep. Michael Cloud won with 57% of the vote. In that the county is about two-thirds Hispanic, that shift may have determined who won both elections.
Let’s look at that last presidential election. In 2023, Donald Trump was a disgraced former president, popular only with his brainwashed MAGA base. He was … and still is … a felon who unsuccessfully tried to overthrow our government. Yet, he won in 2024 in Corpus Christi and elsewhere. The “why” is obvious — his competition was disastrously weak.
Biden’s 2024 election missteps will go down in history. He indicated in 2020 that he was a transition figure, implying he would not run again. Some have claimed he developed Parkinson’s and dementia during his term. But Biden refused to cede power until he was finally pressured into doing so in July 2024 by the feckless Democratic leadership.
However, by then it was too late to have presidential primaries. So, Harris was selected by Democratic leadership with no popular vote.
I believe Harris is a very strong person and solid liberal politician. She might have been a good candidate under usual circumstances. But these were anything but usual circumstances.
Although it has never fully been disclosed, her advisers must have told her to run on a “Trump is worse than me” platform, ignoring issues. And, to her everlasting regret, she evidentially must have agreed. Thus, she felt compelled to support Biden’s indefensible record on inflation and weak policy on the border/immigration, a major factor in her Texas loss.
Any amateur should have known that Harris saying she would have done nothing differently than Sleepy Joe was a losing strategy, especially with the working class in swing states. Harris’ “The View” response (“there is not a thing that comes to mind”) is widely credited as being the debacle that sank her presidential campaign. But these same sore loser advisers later blamed the loss in large part on race and gender, rather than recognizing their poor counsel.
Thus, with two unpopular candidates, voters in Texas and nationally chose the one that they thought had a better chance of achieving positive change. On this factor, Trump outpolled Harris by 13 percentage points. Almost a third of voters (30%) thought she would change little … and 41% believed she would just make a bad situation even worse.
But things may be changing, as evidenced by the unexpected win of a Fort Worth Democrat in a very red MAGA district. In a special runoff election, Republican Leigh Wambsganss was beaten by working-class Democrat Taylor Rehmet in a district Trump won by 17 percentage points in the last election. Having lived in Tarrant County years ago, that one took me by surprise.
And that is not the only election that the MAGA folks have lost in a red state. The recent win by Democrat Eric Gisler in a heavily gerrymandered Georgia state House district also shows Trump’s unpopularity in a state he won in 2024.
There is no doubt that Trump has destroyed his popularity due to immigration and the economy. His approval is at an all-time low of 36%. The only question is whether Democrats in Corpus Christi, the state and the nation can form a cohesive policy statement indicating how they can improve the lives of Latinos and working-class citizens.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Will Democrats step up in 2026 elections? | Opinion
Reporting by Jack Bernard, Opinion contributor / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
