Latino voters singled out by top Democrat for credit in congressional victories

WASHINGTON — The chair of the campaign arm for U.S. House Democrats said during a Friday press conference that this week’s midterm elections resulted in an overwhelming blue wave because of Latinos. 

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene said majorities won in the House and the Senate by Democrats couldn’t have happened without Latino voters. She said Democrats were only able to win competitive seats in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas because of the Latino vote.

While dozens of races are still too close to call, Democrats have won 253 seats, which is far past the 218 seats needed to control the majority in the lower chamber. Republicans have won 161 so far, according to The Associated Press.

DelBene, a Washington state Democrat, said the president and his party broke their 2024 campaign promises when it came to lowering inflation and carrying out a mass deportation campaign of “the worst of the worst.”

“They delivered the most anti-Latino agenda, defined by sky-high costs and out-of-control ICE operations,” she said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. 

DelBene said Democrats flipped 27 districts that President Donald Trump won in 2024 by double digits. 

She added that nearly all of her party’s Latino candidates won, with 54 Latinos who will be part of the 120th Congress in January, a historic number.

Latinos who showed up during the midterm elections are “fed up” with inflation, high gas prices and the unpopular war in Iran, said Democratic Rep.-elect Johnny Garcia, who flipped a newly drawn Texas congressional district meant to favor a Republican candidate.

“I knew I had to channel what the frustration was like here on the ground,” Garcia said.

 “Look, folks in this district, they just want to be able to go to HEB to buy their groceries, they want to be able to pay their utility bills with the wages they bring home,” he said.

The Pew Research Center in October released a report that found that the economy was a top issue for Latinos.

Elevation of Stephen Miller decried

In the middle of the press conference, Trump separately announced that he would tap the architect of his mass deportation campaign, Stephen Miller, to serve as the White House chief of staff, and replace Trump’s longtime aide, Susie Wiles. She’s the highest-ranking official from the White House to leave after Tuesday’s election results. 

Elevating Miller to that role signals that the president is doubling down on his aggressive immigration crackdown that has generated an immense backlash across the country. 

Maria Teresa Kumar, who leads Voto Latino, said the decision to place Miller as White House chief of staff shows that “once again the Republicans are not reading the room.”

Voto Latino is a nonprofit organization that aims to get young Latino and Hispanic people to register to vote and get politically involved.

Kumar said the aggressive immigration crackdown by the Trump administration spurred young Latino voters, many of whom were voting for the first time, to head to the polls.  

“The fact that the president is putting Stephen Miller in that seat just speaks that he’s not learned his lesson,” she said.