Anais Lopez, a 26-year-old California voter, Vote As she faces her third presidential election, she has some misgivings.
“Young Latinos feel like their voices aren’t being heard,” she said.
Lopez said he and other young Latinos aren’t very enthusiastic about voting in this election. electionShe said she feels overlooked by campaigns despite efforts by both Republican and Democratic groups to step up their outreach to Latinos during recent election cycles.
Lopez is one of about 12 million Latinos under the age of 30 who will be eligible to vote in November.
“We’re all lumped together in a lot of ways, but there are millions of us,” Lopez said. “It’s easy to overgeneralize,” she said, adding that she believes young Latinos are too often viewed as a monolith.
According to U.S. Census data, in 2020, there were approximately 7 million Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 24 in the United States, but only 34% reported voting in that year’s election, well below the 48% of 18-24 year olds overall who reported voting.
One in four registered Hispanic voters plans to vote for the first time. Presidential Election According to the Hispanic civil rights group UnidosUS, the number of Hispanic voters is expected to double in this year’s presidential election. In some states in particular, Hispanic turnout could determine the outcome. In New Mexico, 45% of eligible voters are Hispanic, the highest percentage of any state, according to the Pew Research Center, making Hispanics the majority of any racial group in the state. In Arizona, 25% of eligible voters are Hispanic. Both states have hotly contested congressional races, and candidates and groups are working hard to reach out to Hispanics in an effort to appeal to voters like Lopez.
The Latino Community Foundation, a California-based nonprofit that invests in Latino-led organizations and aims to increase Latino political participation, has found that many Latinos who are eligible but don’t vote cite work-related concerns or believe their vote doesn’t matter.
Christian Arana, vice president of civic power and policy at LCF, said the foundation is expanding its investment in Arizona to help local nonprofits mobilize voters in battleground states, hoping to persuade Latinos that their vote will make a difference in their lives and get them to vote.
“Given that this race is so close and that there are millions of Latino votes at stake, it shows that this is a group of voters who, if they register, if they get educated about their vote, if they mobilize, if they actually go out and vote, it’s going to make a difference,” Arana said.
“We have to give them a reason to vote,” Arana said.
Arizona
Two battleground districts where Latino votes could swing the outcome are Arizona’s 1st and 6th congressional districts. Both seats are currently held by Republicans.
In Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, Rep. Juan Siscomani defeated Democratic opponent Kirsten Engel by about 5,000 votes in the 2022 presidential election and could face a rematch after the July 30 primary. Engel is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
She is trying to appeal to young voters who support abortion rights, and there is currently an effort underway to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
“Siscomani’s record of voting in favor of abortion restrictions and his background with radical organizations like Patriot Academy make him not the representative voters want or deserve,” Engel’s campaign manager Alia Kapasi said.
Siscomani says he is pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother.
Kurt Kroemer, a Democratic primary candidate facing Republican incumbent Rep. David Schweikert in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, said getting young voters interested in the election will ensure he gets the votes he needs. [him] “That’s too much.”
“When people lose hope, they throw up their hands and say, ‘What’s the point?'” Kroemer says.
Andrew Horn, the district’s other Democratic primary candidate, said his campaign “recognizes the important role young Latino voters play in shaping the future of our state and our nation.”
Schweikert won his seat in the 2022 election by fewer than 3,200 votes, or less than one percentage point, over Democratic challenger Jevin Hodge. His campaign said he would prioritize housing and economic issues in this election to attract Hispanic voters.
“In my experience, Latino voters in my district are most concerned about their families thriving, and I’m doing everything I can to help. [can] “I will pursue policies that will reduce inflation and promote economic growth and prosperity,” Schweickart said.
New Mexico
Democratic Rep. Gabriel Vázquez was running for reelection in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, which he also won by less than one percentage point, and which is nearly 62% Hispanic.
Like Schweikert, Vázquez’s Republican opponent, Yvette Herrell, is also trying to use concerns about the economy to win over young Latinos.
“They are tired of relentless inflation and New Mexico’s stagnant job market, forcing them to look outside of New Mexico for employment opportunities,” Herrell said. “Our campaign is committed to continuing to reach out to this important voting demographic.”
Dylan McArthur, Vasquez’s campaign manager, said her background growing up in the border region has helped her connect with young Latino voters in the fight to cut costs, create good-paying jobs and protect reproductive freedom.
The Jolt Initiative, a group that aims to increase voter participation among young Hispanics in Texas, believes there are other reasons they aren’t voting.
“There’s a generational lack of social inclusion among Latinos, so it’s up to organizations like ours to make this a generational habit and make it like a family, just like other activities in the Latino community,” said Jackie Bastard, vice president of the Jolt Initiative.
She aims to get young Latinos to the polls this November so that voting becomes a habit.
While both major parties are gaining support among Hispanic voters, an increasing number of young Hispanics are identifying as independents, according to UnidosUS.
Gabriel Sanchez, executive director of the University of New Mexico’s Center for Social Policy, found in a 2023 study that the number of Hispanic voters has increased by 4.7 million since 2018, accounting for 62% of the increase in the total number of U.S. voters during that period.
He said caution should be exercised in election campaigns.
“The huge divide and lack of cooperation between the parties alienates them from party politics in general,” Sanchez said. “That has a big impact on how we think about mobilizing that demographic and getting them interested in voting in the first place.”
