For the first time, Latinos will become a significant force in U.S. presidential politics with a historic turnout expected in the November election.
“This November, Latinos will pass Blacks as the largest minority voting group in the country. It’s the first time that has ever happened,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican, who is the co-founder of the Lincoln Project, which is campaigning against Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the Lincoln Project will join with Mi Familia Vota, UnidosUS Action Fund, and Nuestro PAC to host an online national summit on mobilizing the Hispanic vote in November.
“Donald Trump has offended virtually every voter group in America with the exception of his own non-college-educated white base," Madrid said. "But the very first group that he attacked were Mexican-Americans and that’s something that sticks."
Texas Latinos support Biden 47% to Trump’s 37%, according to a poll by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation survey in August.
Polls are showing Biden closer in Texas than in Florida.
“He’s consistently a point or two up or at a dead even pace," Madrid said. "The only reason we’re not hearing more about it is because it’s such a big state and it’s so expensive [to advertise] that most people are not committing the resources there on what’s a possibility instead of a likelihood.”
Nationally, Biden also leads Trump with 65% of Hispanic support. But that’s 14 points lower than Hillary Clinton got in 2016, according to a report from FiveThirtyEight last week.
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But that percentage difference nationally is not lost on the Trump campaign.
“This president overperformed with Hispanics compared to previous candidates in the past and that base of support in the Hispanic community has only grown thanks to what he’s been able to accomplish in his short time in office," Hogan Gidley, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary.
Gidley said Latino voters "want what everyone else wants. They want peace and prosperity. They want their streets to be secure.”
The Trump campaign said it is confident that the president’s record will appeal to Latinos.
“The job creation alone for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and women is something like we’ve never seen before thanks to this president’s policies,” Gidley said.
In addition to Wednesday’s national summit, The Lincoln Project also plans to make a significant six-figure ad buy over the next month to target Texas Latinos.
“You’re going to see a very aggressive ad campaign both online and on broadcast television. And you’ll probably see a little bit of radio too,” Madrid said.
Texas has the second-high amount of eligible Latino voters with 5.6-million people, according to the Pew Research Center.
The number of eligible Latino voters has almost doubled since 2000, Pew reported.
