How Harris and Trump competed for the Latino voter

Isaiah Ojeda is a student at Arizona State University and a first-time voter. He added that he only recently decided who he would vote for in the presidential race because he wanted to keep an open mind about both presidential candidates.

“I was very influenced by my family, their ideology and what they told me,” said the first-year nursing student.

Ojeda is originally from El Paso, but moved to Tucson in high school. At home, talking about news and politics is not unusual, especially with his father, a Peruvian immigrant and lifelong Democrat.

“Me and my dad talk quite often about what’s going on in the world. One of the main issues that my family kind of emphasized was climate change. While Biden was in office, another issue came up – inflation,” Ojeda said.

Ojeda is part of a Latino electorate that Democrats and Republicans are trying to court in key battleground states like Arizona, where victory could depend on a few votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden won the state by about 10,000 votes.

Both sides have invested significant resources to ensure that their campaigns reach Latino households, with a particular focus on Latino men, with messages on issues such as the economy.

The Harris and Trump campaigns have increased the number of rallies, phone banking events and other gatherings in Arizona to drum up support, but that’s where the similarities end in their approaches to winning the voting bloc.

Arizona Republic officials spoke with organizers working to get votes for both campaigns about their strategies for getting Latinos to the polls.

Campaign spokespeople described various, often disparate, methods of reaching the nearly 1 in 4 eligible voters in Arizona who are Latino with their message.

Trump’s campaign relies on the former president’s image

GOP campaign strategists say there is no better person to deliver the Republican message than former President Donald Trump himself.

Republicans believe voters remember that they had an easier financial situation during Trump’s term and see it as a central part of the campaign’s strategy to win over voters regardless of their racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.

“In this particular election, the main issues are the same for everyone,” said Jaime Florez, Latino communications director for the Trump campaign. “Our message is that we need to go back to the Trump years, which were great in terms of the economy, border control (and) crime.”

A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll conducted in late September showed Trump leading the presidential race among young Latinos in Arizona, with 51% support among Latinos ages 18 to 34. Trump’s lead was even larger among Latinos ages 35 to 49 at 57%. The poll showed Harris had less than 40% approval in both groups.

Florez believes that the reason for the massive influx of voters to the Republican camp are the solutions proposed by Trump in his “Agenda 47” platform.

State Rep. Steve Montenegro has been brought into the campaign to help convey Trump’s message to Arizona voters.

He focused his efforts on Latino households, which he believes are most affected by rising costs.

“They remember what the gas price was under President Trump. They remember the prices of groceries, milk, eggs, bread.” Montenegro told the Republic. “President Trump has made direct economic contact with Latinos or Latinos.”

Montenegro is encouraged by polls that show the Latino community may give Trump an advantage in Arizona, attributing it to a more engaged electorate than in previous elections.

Other outside groups have sprung up to support the former president, such as Latino Americans for Trump, which organizes events aimed at increasing the Latino vote.

Who are the Latinos who believe Trump is the solution?

Surprise residents Norma and Alex Moreno volunteered for a phone banking event hosted by Latino Americans for Trump. The Morenos have lived in the Valley for seven years, moving from the Democratic stronghold of Long Beach, California.

“We couldn’t afford it anymore,” said Norma Moreno, a retired education administrator. They found a cheaper house in Arizona and a more pleasant political situation.

Alex Moreno is a lifelong Republican who voted for President Ronald Reagan and both Bushes, for Senator John McCain in Arizona in his losing bid in 2008, and then for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

But Norma Moreno wasn’t always a Republican.

“When I was in college, I was a Democrat,” she said. “I think one of the reasons I became a Democrat was the indoctrination we experienced in college. My professors remained idle and, of course, they conducted classes that way.”

Norma Moreno was a student at the University of California in the 1970s, a decade in which Chicano activism exploded on college campuses in the Southwest and in farming communities where migrant workers organized for better medical treatment.

“I was in this movement with Cesar Chavez,” recalls Norma Moreno. “We boycotted a lot on campus and in the neighborhood. I was involved in a lot of activism during that time.”

Both of her parents were migrant farm workers. Her childhood experiences made her sympathetic to the plight of migrants.

“We moved a lot, everywhere pisca it was, that’s where we were (for) the season. I know the hardships my parents faced as farm workers, I know the living conditions and so on,” said Norma Moreno. “It really instilled in me the desire to fight for the fact that these people deserve better.”

After college, Norma Moreno said she entered the “real world” by working in Los Angeles County with Welfare-to-Work program participants.

“I thought I was doing a good job of preparing (welfare recipients) for work, and I was. That part was good, but I didn’t like the fact that they weren’t being moved from welfare to work,” she said. Norma Moreno began to feel that the people she helped were becoming dependent on the welfare system for their livelihoods, which was the opposite of what her job was supposed to do.

This was the catalyst for her to change parties and vote Republican from the age of thirty until now in the 2024 election.

How did the Harris campaign try to win the votes of young Latinos?

While the Trump campaign believes its best spokesman is Trump himself, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is focusing on working with community leaders to deliver her message

“I think a huge piece of the puzzle of what we need to do in this election in every community is to make sure that we’re using trusted messaging services as much as possible,” said Harris campaign spokesman Kevin Muñoz.

The strategy is especially important because of the way the Harris campaign is trying to connect with undecided voters who would otherwise be difficult to reach, he said.

The “Hombres con Harris” campaign initiative was launched in early October during the visit of the Governor of Minnesota. Tim Walz paid in Phoenix and Tucson, rallying supporters around the start of early voting in Arizona.

“The initiative was born from the mindset that your friends, family and people you know in office speak authentically and true to the Vice President and Governor Walz,” Muñoz said.

The campaign took the lead on the road, stopping in Phoenix, Tucson and Nogales before moving on to other battleground states, including Nevada and Pennsylvania.

How Latinos talk to each other about the election

Raul Aguirre, owner of REA Media Group in Tucson and a Chicano political supporter, is one of the people the campaign tapped to convey Harris’ message. Attended the “Hombres con Harris” stop in Tucson with U.S. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., where they spoke with other Latin American small business owners.

“There is a narrative going around that Latinos are flocking to the Trump campaign. I don’t see it. I think this was misread. I think that’s a misnomer. I don’t see it at the grassroots level,” Aguirre said. He said about nine out of 10 people he talked to were Harris supporters.

In the days before November 5, polls for the Arizona presidential race gave Trump a slight lead over Harris. The Republic’s analysis of the data shows an increase in the number of registered GOP voters over the past four years.

The percentage of Latinos under 30 in Arizona registered as Republicans increased from about 13% in 2020 to about 16% in 2024.

And while the number of Republicans increased, the share of young Latino male voters registered as Democrats dropped by about 10 percentage points between the last presidential election and this election.

It is worth noting that the percentage of non-party voters also increased.

Still, Aguirre believes Latinos in the Southwest “strongly support” Democrats in Tuesday’s election.

“I’ll tell you why,” he said. “I am the father of seven daughters, this is something very personal to me. I want each of my daughters to have the freedom to make choices about their own bodies, the right to choose who they love, the right to live without repression and interference.

Other men who participated in the Hombres con Harris dialogues agree with Aguirre, he said. Other issues discussed by participants include Harris’ plans for the economy to lower the cost of living and how a Harris president will address immigration.

Aguirre said he was impressed with the Harris campaign’s efforts to reach Latino voters.

“I can’t remember another time when Democrats really (paid) attention to the Latino vote,” he said.

In previous elections, he criticized both parties for not paying enough attention to the Latino vote.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people, politicians and Democrats, trying to unify the Latino vote. “I can honestly say that I was very excited to see so many young people sent by the Democratic Party to all communities and paying special attention to the value of the Latino vote,” he said.

This voter will vote for Kamala Harris for the first time

Ojeda, a first-time voter for ASU, decided to cast his vote for Harris on November 5.

He said he did not identify with Trump, calling him “inflammatory” and “unpresidential.”

“I don’t like who he is as a person,” Ojeda said. “I find it very confrontational and polarizing.”

Ojeda did not like Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic or his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

Even though Ojeda knows he will vote for Harris, the freshman understands why his friend won’t.

“At the end of the day, we both just have our own opinions. I had no intention of influencing him, he had no intention of persuading me,” he said.

Do you have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona? Contact the reporter at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @rafaeldelag.