Latino voters drive Democratic midterm gains in Texas and Kansas
A sharp drop in Republican support among Latino voters helped Democrats reclaim Congress, with approval ratings for the president falling to 57% among those who backed him in 2024.
By Javier Sanders ·
Democratic candidates secured control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, a shift analysts attribute largely to a decisive change in voting behavior among Latino Americans. This demographic swing was strong enough to upend Republican holdouts in traditionally conservative states, including Texas and Kansas.
Texas, often viewed as a safe harbor for Republicans, now leans blue following the election results. Kansas elected its first Democratic senator in nearly a century. These outcomes mark a reversal from the 2024 presidential cycle, when Latino voters supported Donald Trump in substantial numbers.
The numbers illustrate the scale of the shift. In 2024, Trump captured 43% of the Latino vote. This week, only about one-third of Latino voters chose Republican candidates for Congress. The president’s approval rating among Latino voters who supported him in 2024 dropped from 93% at the start of his second term to 57%. Among all Latino voters, his approval stands at 24%.
Economic factors played a role, with Latino voters citing the state of the economy, gas prices, and grocery costs as primary concerns. However, political analysts point to immigration policy as the central driver of the backlash. Many Latino voters initially backed Trump because they supported secure borders and the deportation of violent criminals.
The administration's execution of deportation policies diverged from that expectation. Latino citizens reported being racially profiled by immigration agents for speaking Spanish. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directives allowed raids on churches and schools, actions that many voters found intrusive and unwarranted.
Tensions escalated as the government pursued a campaign to eliminate birthright citizenship, a right that many Latino citizens view as the foundation of their national identity. President Trump described birthright citizenship as a disgrace, a comment that resonated with voters who felt their status as Americans was being questioned. The administration also faced criticism for using dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, with Trump calling them garbage and rapists.
The White House website featured an arcade game where players rounded up brown and black characters for deportation, a detail that highlighted the administration's casual approach to xenophobia. Latino voters indicated that they supported border security but did not support the inhumane treatment of non-violent immigrants, including farm workers and landscapers who were often targeted during raids.
Rafael Perez, a columnist for the Southern California News Group, noted that the administration mistook support for secure borders as a mandate to deport as many people as possible, regardless of their threat level. The electoral results suggest that future politicians cannot rely on Latino voters as a political scapegoat without facing consequences in the ballot box.
