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Latins Moving Towards Republicans

Well, some of them.

Below is a nice piece from a fellow Colombian-American. But, it has some problems. First, the term Hispanic. Latins never use it. Instead, they usually refer to themselves by the country of their heritage. And given Latins in this country are far from politically monolithic, any Latin using the term “Hispanic” is trying to get over on unsuspecting non-Latins or they don’t know what they’re talking about. And “Latino” or “Latinx” is just PC/guilty non-Latin speak. I mean, we don’t call the Italians “Italiano” in normal conversation.

The basic breakdown is this. Puerto Ricans, Central Americans, and Mexicans vote Democrat. Cubans and South Americans vote Republican. Trump made some good inroads with Mexicans and made a small bit of progress with Puerto Ricans. No great realignment, just some positive movement. That being said, here’s Jaime Florez.

Florez: More and more, we are seeing Hispanic voters turn toward the Republican Party, where job-growth, economic opportunity, and safe communities are prioritized.

Last cycle, President Donald Trump won 38 percent of the Hispanic vote, a 10-point increase from 2016. In my home state of Florida alone, we elected two new Hispanic members to Congress: Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar. Under President Trump and Republican leadership, the Hispanic unemployment rate hit several record lows, including reaching 4 percent for the first time in history. In 2018, a net 362,000 Hispanics achieved the dream of homeownership—the largest such gain since 2005. And in 2019, our community experienced our median income hit its highest ever recorded level.

Today we are no longer experiencing that same prosperity. President Joe Biden squandered the economic recovery he inherited and continues to leave Hispanic Americans behind. Businesses are struggling to hire workers, prices are skyrocketing, and now Biden has threatened an authoritarian vaccine mandate that disproportionally impacts communities of color and low income families.

Further, Democrats prove time and time again that they do not share our values—as self-proclaimed socialists and allies of the “defund the police” movement control their party. Many Hispanics, myself included, came to America seeking economic opportunity and safety, and it’s no wonder why more Hispanics are rejecting the socialist policies of the left and are turning towards the Republican Party—the party of freedom and opportunity for all Americans. This is especially personal to me because I fled from my native country Colombia with my family to the United States more than two decades ago. I left my relatives, career, and friends behind in search of security, freedom, prosperity, and opportunity.

As a journalist in Colombia, it became a daily struggle to survive. Hundreds of colleagues were brutally murdered by the FARC and violent groups. After escaping the violence in Colombia, I began working in Washington, D.C. I will never forget the peace that came with leaving the house in the morning and giving my daughter a kiss, knowing that I would return in the afternoon to give her another one.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on October 10, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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