'Desperate, Frustrated, Angry': Latinos Are The Swing Voters At The Center Of American Politics

Their big shift to Democrats in 2025 may be more about a Trump backlash than renewed affection for the party.

First, Latino voters were the vanguard of the New American Majority, growing in number and destined to lift the Democratic Party to new heights. Later, around 2020, they were the canary in the coal mine for Democrats’ problems with voters without a college degree. In 2024, they were the keystone of the new multiracial working-class coalition President Donald Trump had assembled.

After swinging back to Democrats in a major way to help power Tuesday night’s blue wave, however, Latinos may take up a new role in American politics as the preeminent swing voters of the 2020s. The group, which is younger and more working-class than the American electorate writ large, has felt the sting of inflation, housing and cost-of-living crises more than most. And that means neither party can count on their loyalty.

“This is a community that’s desperate, frustrated, angry and is more than willing to punish what party is in power and is not addressing the problem,” said Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump Republican consultant and expert on Latino voters.

Latinos were not the only part of Trump’s 2024 coalition that crumbled on Tuesday night. Other demographics he made gains with, such as young men and Asian-Americans, similarly lined up to support Democrats at comparatively sky-high levels. But their growing numbers and potential sway in key swing states make them the most important of the groups to abandon the GOP.

Madrid and others warned that the party can not just assume Latino voters are back in their camp permanently. While Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani all made specific outreach to Latinos and earned impressive performances, it was anti-Trump sentiment that drove most of the vote-switching.