In 2024, Denver Harbor gave Donald 40 percent of the vote. That is with the present Congresswoman representing that area walking the neighborhood, trying to get support for the Democrats.
Below are two articles. The first discusses why Donald Trump and possibly other Republicans may struggle with Latinos in 2026, while the second explores their success with Latinos in 2024.
In a Houston neighborhood near the city’s port, residents worry their problems — and their votes — will be unheard if Texas state lawmakers go ahead with a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan. It’s part of an attempt by Republicans, at the urging of President Donald Trump, to give their party an edge in next year’s elections for Congress. As a result, those residents could go from a district long represented by Democrats to one that tilts Republican.
Denver Harbor, a neighborhood in Houston’s East End, is roughly 90% Latino and tends to vote Democratic. It’s a mix of small homes and small industry. One of the major concerns for residents has been deportations.
“Everybody’s nervous,” said Rene Porras, a Vietnam combat veteran and small business owner. “I have a little local taqueria, Mexican bakery, and business is down for the last three or four weeks. I mean, really down. And I talked to my other friends that have businesses and the same thing. Where did the immigrants go?”
Latinos in Texas swung to Trump -Local leaders say GOP focus on crime, high prices resonated.
Cortina noted that exit polling is an imperfect science and that it’s too early to determine whether the 2024 results constitute a genuine political realignment among Latinos. At least in the short term, though, Republicans appear to have made significant gains in the community.
Democrats’ losses were most pronounced in South Texas, a Latino stronghold where Biden won half of the 22 Texas counties he carried in 2020. This year, Harris won just four of those counties, and a total of 12 across the state.
Among Trump’s victories there was Starr County, where about 97 percent of the population is Hispanic. Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win since 1892.
Even in urban areas such as Harris County, however, Harris appeared to lose ground. Many heavily Latino precincts in the southeast and north Houston were decided by razor-thin margins. Some precincts in places such as Deer Park and La Porte, which are 40% Latino, voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
Juan Hernandez, the owner of Doña Maria, did not share who he voted for when asked Wednesday but said Latinos moved away from Democrats because they were disillusioned with the economy and the help recently arrived migrants were receiving from the government. His customers, some wearing red and donning Make America Great Again hats to commemorate Trump’s win, agreed.
The bold type on the quote above is one of the reasons some voters in my precinct shared with me why they voted for Trump or chose not to vote in 2024.
Can the Democrats do something to turn things around with the Latinos? Are they stuck with the same message that they have pushed for the last 20 years, abortion, abortion, abortion? The Democrats, of course, there are exceptions, have lost touch with the Latino community. I have not seen anything from the local leadership here in Harris County that would indicate that the Party is willing to make minimal change to the messaging.
Early last year, I wrote the following;
If you are not here legally and you are “mexican” looking, be scared, be very, very scared.
- February 26, 2024
I told people that the people here illegally would be the first on the list of people they would go after, then the Transgender community, the Gay community (Already same sex marriage is on the chopping block), the Blacks, and then the Latinos. The reason that I listed Latinos last is that our swing to the right gave the Republicans hope that we would stay on their side, thus giving them a majority for decades. Look no further than the new Congressional Districts that have been proposed; three of them are heavily Latino, and they voted for Trump.
The Democrats always wanted the sleeping Giant to wake up; it did, but didn’t vote the way they thought.