Latino voters swing left in midterm elections, lifting Democrats to big
wins in Texas and nationwide
[November 07, 2026]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ, MIKE CATALINI and JONATHAN J. COOPER
SAN JUAN, Texas (AP) — Latino voters moved sharply to the left in the
midterm elections, propelling Democrats to an improbable electoral sweep
in Texas and in battleground House races from coast to coast.
It's a remarkable pivot for a demographic that had shifted toward
President Donald Trump just two years ago.
“We showed our power and flexed our muscle during this election,” said
Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who won his battleground district in New
Mexico by around 17 percentage points after winning by less than 1
percentage point in 2022.
Democrats capitalized on voters' angst over rising prices and government
corruption, riding a wave of frustration to retake control of the House
and the Senate.
Hispanics joined in that decisive repudiation of Trump and his
Republican Party. In Texas, every county voted more Democratic than it
did two years ago, when Trump beat Democratic Vice President Kamala
Harris in the presidential race. But the more heavily Hispanic the
county, generally the heavier the shift.
“This is our lightning-in-the-bottle moment, that we were able to make
such historic gains that we probably never conjured, especially here in
Texas,” said Johnny Garcia, a sheriff's deputy who won a newly created
House district in the San Antonio area where Trump won by 10 percentage
points in 2024. “The only way we did that is by going after the issues
that were meaning the most to people.”
Republicans lost the gains Trump made with Hispanic voters in 2024
About one-third of Hispanic voters said they backed the Republican in
their local U.S. House race, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of
more than 100,000 midterm voters, while roughly 4 in 10 voted for Trump
two years ago.
The shift was especially pronounced in Texas, where voters flipped a
Senate seat and the governor's office to Democrats along with every
statewide office on the ballot.
Roughly 7 in 10 Hispanic voters supported Democrat James Talarico in the
U.S. Senate contest, while only about 3 in 10 voted for Republican Ken
Paxton. The group was essentially split in the 2024 presidential
election, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of voters and
nonvoters.
Younger Hispanics’ shift was even more pronounced, with swings of around
20 percentage points toward Talarico among Hispanic voters in Texas
under 65 years old.
Cindy Candia, a 56-year-old lifelong Democrat, was thrilled to see her
party find success for the first time in her 20 years living in Texas.
She was especially excited about the incoming governor, Gina Hinojosa,
who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, where Candia lives now.
“She’s a woman, she’s Hispanic, she is from Brownsville, and I don’t
think anybody thought that Texas would vote for that, for that type of
person,” Candia said.
Democrats won every House district that touches the U.S.-Mexico border —
which includes seats in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California — for
the first time since 2008.
Even in the Senate race in Florida, where Republican Sen. Ashley Moody
managed to narrowly win reelection, less than half of Hispanic voters
supported Moody, while Trump definitively won this group two years
earlier with 55% of Hispanics’ support.
In southwestern Kansas, three Hispanic-majority counties that voted
overwhelmingly for Trump flipped to backing Adam Hamilton, who became
the first Democrat in nearly a century to win a U.S. Senate contest in
the state. Turnout also surged 27% over 2022 in the three counties,
Finney, Ford and Seward.
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Attendees listen to speakers at the Voto Latino "Ready, Go, Vote,"
rally for Democratic candidates Gina Hinojosa for Texas governor,
James Talarico for the U.S. Senate, and Bobby Pulido for the U.S.
House, in Weslaco, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, ahead of the
midterm elections. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)
Fourteen Hispanic Democrats were newly elected on Tuesday, 10 of
them in districts that are currently represented by Republicans or
were redrawn to favor the GOP. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus
will have more members than ever before, said Rep. Linda Sanchez of
California, chair of the caucus' campaign arm, CHC BOLD PAC.
Latino voters want someone who is “understanding of their issues” to
represent them on Capitol Hill, said Leticia Gutierrez, a Democrat
who won a Houston-area House district that Texas Republicans redrew
in a failed attempt to pick up five more seats in the state.
“I’m gonna carry all of those things with me to Washington to be
able to have that lens,” Gutierrez said.
Manny Rutinel, a Democrat who defeated Republican Rep. Gabe Evans in
Colorado, said voters responded to his life story, trusting that he
understands their economic concerns after growing up in a family
that sometimes struggled to make ends meet.
“I think that they elected me because they know that for me it’s
deeply personal,” Rutinel said.
Democrats can't take Latino voters for granted
In House districts where at least a quarter of the citizen
voting-age population is Hispanic, the Democratic share in Tuesday’s
midterms averaged about 11 percentage points higher than Harris'
2024 performance. By contrast, other House districts saw a
7-percentage-point gain on average.
In majority-Hispanic counties, Democratic Senate candidates exceeded
their party's 2024 results by more than 15 percentage points.
Latinos have been especially affected by Trump's immigration
crackdown, which was a prominent issue alongside economic concerns
in some of the most heavily Latino districts.
Though Trump's promise to arrest and deport immigrants living in the
country illegally was popular during his campaign, Americans now
disapprove of his approach to immigration enforcement.
“Everybody voted for him, but the people that voted for him, he’s
locking them up," said Elton Reid, a 44-year-old Latino voter and
full-time caregiver for his father in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Like
he promised them the world, and he didn’t come through with it, and
now he’s locking them up.”
Reid voted for Democrats in his battleground district, where
Democrat Bob Brooks defeated Republican Rep. Ryan McKenzie.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, a Latino Democrat, warned that the shift
toward Democrats hinges on the party keeping campaign pledges.
“They saw betrayal from Trump after they gave him a chance in 2024,”
Tuerk said. “And they went with the Democrats, and they’re giving
them a chance now.”
“But," he added, "they’re on probation.”
___
Catalini and Cooper reported from Washington. Associated Press
journalists Linley Sanders, Aaron Kessler and Humeri Lodhi in
Washington; John Hanna in Topeka, Kan.; Erik Verduzco in York, S.C.;
Fabianna Rincon in New York; and Tassanee Vejpongsa in Allentown,
Pa., contributed.
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