Latino voters key to Democrats’ Texas midterm hopes

Democrats are looking to Latino voters in Texas' Rio Grande Valley as they try to win their first statewide race in more than 30 years in the November 3 midterm elections.

President Donald Trump won all four counties in the Valley in 2024, taking as much as 56 percent of the vote. Democrats now hope frustration over prices and immigration enforcement will shift some voters back toward them.

At an October 25 rally in Weslaco, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa said Trump had promised prosperity but had not delivered. The rally drew 8,000 people.

Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico is also running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for a US Senate seat, with Democrats seeking four Senate gains nationally to take control of the chamber.

More than 5.1 million Texans had cast early ballots by October 27, or 26.8 percent of registered voters, according to the Texas Secretary of State's office.

Maria Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino said Latino voting was surging in Texas and that young Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley were 12,000 votes ahead of the same point four years earlier.

Trump has made three visits to Texas in the past month as he campaigns in traditionally Republican states. He has also warned about possible voter fraud and announced a $1 million reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Rights groups have warned that federal agents at polling stations could intimidate voters, especially Latinos affected by the Trump administration's immigration raids.

Some voters interviewed in the Valley said economic pressure and immigration enforcement had changed their political views. Businessman Benny Menendez said he voted for Trump in 2024 to punish Democrats but now planned to vote Democratic because immigration raids had frightened workers and delayed construction projects.