Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Why Latinos aren’t realigning

Why Latinos aren’t realigning

Nov 05, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

Attendees listen to speakers at the Voto Latino "Ready. Go. Vote." rally

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 ahead of the midterm elections on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. | Michael Gonzalez/AP

In the sweeping blue tsunami that saw Latino voters overwhelmingly back the Democratic Party, after years of the party hemorrhaging these same voters to President Donald Trump, it’s tempting for Democrats to declare victory.

They shouldn’t.

Talk of a political realignment of Latinos may be premature, multiple Latino Democrats who worked on key House, Senate and gubernatorial races this cycle told Playbook.

The eye-popping margins of Latino turnout are “not necessarily an endorsement of the Democratic Party. They’re more a rejection of the Republican Party,” Carlos Eduardo Espina, the popular influencer who boosted Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico in Texas, told Playbook on the sidelines of Hinojosa’s election night party in Austin on Tuesday night. “I know a lot of Latinos who are voting against the Republican Party, but they’re still a little bit hesitant.”

Across key swing states and battlegrounds, Latino voters helped carry Democrats across the finish line. Heavily Latino counties swung in some cases by double digits, and by more than any other type of county. From Texas to Nevada to Pennsylvania, the trend was overwhelming. Even in states where Democrats ultimately fell short like Florida, Latino-dominated areas like Miami-Dade County and Osecola County flipped their way, as your author reported with POLITICO’s Sam Benson and Jessica Piper. Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since the 90s, will now have a Democratic governor from Brownsville.

But after a decade of gradually stinging losses, Latino Democrats are warning the party coming into power in both Congress and in governor’s mansions that Latinos are really now a true swing voter.

Now the real test begins. Many Latinos are overwhelmingly pocketbook voters, and Trump’s 2024 gains from the Rio Grande Valley to Lehigh Valley stemmed in large part from his economic messaging. The shift away from Republicans this cycle is hard to separate from the pinch at the gas station as a byproduct of the Iran war, a fact even the president has conceded.

And Latino Republicans know it too.

“Hispanics fired Republicans on Tuesday in the same way they fired Democrats in 2024, and for similar reasons,” GOP media strategist Giancarlo Sopo, a Trump 2020 campaign alum who worked on campaigns in Texas this cycle, told Playbook. “Nobody got a mandate. Everybody’s on probation.”

Latinos are “the first ones that really feel when things go bad. You know, we're the first ones that get fired,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told Playbook. Latinos “felt that they were being ignored by the Republican Party that they trusted.”

After an election defined by affordability, the clock is now ticking for Democrats to make good on their campaign trail promises to cement Latinos’ turn back to their party. “You have to deliver,” Espina said.

“They're trying to find that political home, and I think there is a huge opportunity here — challenge and opportunity — for the Democratic Party to actually build that this year,” Melissa Morales of SOMOS PAC said.

On the legislative side, the Latinos coming into office are a microcosm of the ideological challenges the party will face as they look to redefine their coalition ahead of 2028. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is expected to grow its ranks to 50 members, its biggest membership class ever. That means progressives like New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier will be in the same caucus as more moderate-minded types like Texas’ Bobby Pulido or Henry Cuellar.

California Rep. Linda Sanchez, who chairs the CHC’s BOLD PAC, cautioned that Democrats will have to avoid getting comfortable on the organizing side too. The PAC doubled down this year on digital campaigning, investing specifically in working with Latino influencers like Espina to expand their reach. “We're starting to see the fruits of that labor,” Sanchez told Playbook, noting particular gains among younger Latino voters.

The 2028 cycle will be the moment for Democrats to reckon with the lessons from 2024 and 2026. If they can build on the momentum, Espina predicts “Latinos can become the base of the party for years to come.”

Good Thursday afternoon. This is Ali Bianco — freshly back from Texas after a history-making Election Day. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Send me your post-election analysis at abianco@politico.com.

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7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. 2028 BEGINS: The 2028 could-be candidates are already generating buzz just 48 hours after Election Day: Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and progressive activist Nomiki Konst are launching a committee to draft Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to run for president, POLITICO’s Aaron Pellish and colleagues report. The group announced Thursday morning — “Run Ro” — will allow the California progressive’s allies to raise money and coalesce support for a presidential campaign on his behalf. Khanna told POLITICO he’ll make a decision on running “sometime over the holidays.”

2. HEADING FOR THE EXITS: Harmeet Dhillon is planning to step down from her job in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the first top DOJ official to resign after Democrats swept both chambers in Congress, Bloomberg Law’s Ben Penn and Celine Castronuovo scoop. Her post opens up a Senate confirmation in the future to replace her. “Former officials said the department is bracing for multiple other top political appointees to exit in the lame duck period before the New Year.”

3. THE VIEW FROM HILL: Rep. French Hill, a senior Republican who barely won reelection in Little Rock this week, is blaming Republicans’ shelling on Trump’s “unfavorability” in an exclusive interview with POLITICO’s Katherine Hapgood. Hill’s race was called this morning, with the six-term lawmaker and powerful House Financial Services chair squeaking out a win over Democrat Chris Jones by less than 2 percentage points. “President Trump’s unfavorability had a lot of impact on races across the country,” Hill told Katherine. “We had, in my judgment, recruited good candidates who had good funding for their campaigns. But it was a wave election, and we lost a lot of really good, constructive members of the House.”

4. THE VIEW FROM THE HILL: Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) officially announced her run for majority leader in a letter to House Dems, POLITICO’s Riley Rogerson writes. And Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) has formally announced his bid for House majority whip, per Riley. Clark and Aguilar are currently running unopposed, as in many of the top rungs of Dem leadership.

Vibe check: “Rich people are back on the menu in Washington,” POLITICO’s Brian Faler reports. Proposals for a federal wealth tax and other tax increases on billionaires are coming back into view on the Hill.

The new minority: House Republicans are launching into a leadership contest for the minority where neither candidate is willing to break with Trump. Both Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Steve Scalise (R-La.) are close Trump allies, and neither’s initial statements have indicated a change of course, POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy writes. That may collide with both public and private musings about Trump’s influence.

5. AIN’T NO SUNSHINE: “‘Florida Is the Last Main Anchor Standing’ for Republicans,” by NYT’s Patricia Mazzei and David Ovalle: “Florida Republicans held onto a U.S. Senate seat, the governor’s mansion and every statewide office. … But even in Florida, Republicans lost some of their oomph. … For Florida Democrats, the close results were evidence that the national party and its donors, who abandoned the state during the DeSantis era, should invest again. Florida’s size and 10 television markets make campaigning very expensive, though [David Jolly] and especially [Angie Nixon] — who ran a grass-roots operation with no television ads — showed how far limited resources could go.”

6. POLL POSITION: “The Polls Found a New Way to Be Wrong,” by The Atlantic’s Marc Novicoff: “This time around, the polls undercounted a different kind of voter: Democrats. … In fact, even this year’s seemingly incredible poll numbers turned out to significantly understate Democrats’ strength. Democrats are now expected to win the House popular vote by 13 points, the largest such victory in 50 years. And that four-point national polling error was small compared with the miss in certain states.”

7. BRAVE NEW WORLD: OpenAI is outlining new policies to give communities a bigger say in data center development, POLITICO’s Owen Dahlkamp reports. It’s the biggest step yet to reconcile the growing public backlash to data centers.

A message from OpenAI:

TALK OF THE TOWN

ANOTHER STEVENS FLIP — Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) has pulled out of George Washington University’s “Mid-Term Post-Election Analysis Event” tonight, per Zeteo’s Prem Thakker. “We have been informed that Congresswoman Haley Stevens is no longer able to attend the event,” an email sent to RSVPed attendees read. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) will be replacing Stevens on the panel.

ONLY IN D.C. — “Today is ‘PoPville Day,’ D.C. mayor declares to honor popular blog,” by WaPo’s Liam Scott: “Twenty years after Dan Silverman launched his now iconic Prince of Petworth blog, known as PoPville, about hyperlocal news and minutiae in the District, the site he created is getting a day of honor. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has declared Nov. 5 ‘PoPville Day.’ … The 51-year-old launched PoPville in 2006, and now the site receives upward of 750,000 unique visitors per month, he said.”

OUT AND ABOUT — Adrienne Elrod, John McCarthy, Kimball Stroud and Elizabeth Thorp hosted a book party last night at the Jefferson Hotel toasting Sophia Bush on the release of her new book, “And I will tell you Mine" ($26.39) which is the current New York Times number one best seller. SPOTTED: Irish Amb. Geraldine Byrne Nason, Liechtenstein Amb. Georg Sparber, Kelley Robinson, Alex Edelman, Karine Jean-Pierre, Aidan McLaughlin, Todd Webster, Josh Dawsey, Helen Milby, Brittany Ferrell, Daniel Swartz, Lee Kane, Alex Hornbrook, Senay Bulbul, Chris Russo, Shanti Stanton, Nick Schmit and Ashley Lerner.

— Great Society Action convened a gathering of rising Democratic operatives, with John McCarthy bringing together former OMB Director Shalanda Young to discuss economic priorities for a Democratic majority and House Majority PAC President Mike Smith to share data from Democratic House victories. SPOTTED: Helen Milby, Ken Jarin, Michael Block, Jonathan Cousimano, Tre Easton, Jimmy Anderson, Emmy Ruiz, Hannah Muldavin, Lauren French, Mitchell Rivard, Gianluca Nigro, Riley Kilburg, Chris Russo, Perrin Brown, Liam Buckley, CJ Warnke, Danya Rafqi, Tyler Lewis, Jay Bhargava, Matthew Ellison, Jon Cardinal, Tiger Ricchetti, Deirdre Schifeling, Andy Flick, Miles Lichtman, Claudia Chavez, Rodericka Applewhaite and Kelsey Fitzpatrick.

TRANSITIONS — Andrew Almand, Darnell Morrow and Jeremy Nauman have joined Barnes & Thornburg as partners in the real estate finance practice. They join from Ballard Spahr.

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