Kamala Harris shakes up the Latino vote

The presidential election is less than four months away and this year 36 million Latinos will be eligible to cast a ballot in November’s election, according to the Pew Research Center.

On Tuesday night, Chicago Latina Magazine collaborated with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and hosted a Zoom call to show their support for Harris and help propel a plan to reach Hispanics across the nation.

“You all have broken the internet, you’ve broken Zoom,” said Michelle Villegas, the national Latino engagement director for Harris, in a video posted to the Chicago Latina Magazine Facebook page.

On the call women discussed the slogan, “llamala Kamala,” to help garner Latino support for Harris. The event helped raise more the $110,000 for the Harris Campaign, according to the New York Times.

“Latinas are powerful at the ballot box and Latinas are powerful in organizing their communities,” Villegas said on the Zoom call.

The latest data released by the NALEO Educational Fund projects at least 17.5 million Latinos will cast a ballot during the 2024 election. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit, California (4.8m), Texas (2.8m), Florida (2m) and Arizona (855,000) are home to the largest populations of Latinos expected to vote.

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Adriana Zapata and her husband own Cocina Adamex, a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona, and two other businesses. Zapata’s parents and her in-laws are from a border town in Mexico. She said she’s a proud of her Mexican roots and loves to share her culture with the community and customers.

She said she’s already registered to vote and feels like the shakeup in the presidential election ignited a new sense of hope.

“Now we have whole new player, a whole new person in the running and that’s Kamala Harris. I am very proud that she is in the running, we are very excited, my family and I, to see what that evolves into,” Zapata said.

While she’s excited about Harris, Zapata remains an undecided voter. She said wants to elect a president who will support small business owners like her.

“We are families, we are not big corporations with shareholders, and big stock portfolios, we’re families putting our kids through college,” Zapata said.

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Data collected and analyzed by the Pew Research Center shows Latino voters have favored democratic candidates in presidential elections for decades, but in recent years they’ve tracked a shift.

“There is an upward trend in support for Republican presidential candidates at least compared to where we were in back in 2008,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Research Center Director of Race and Ethnicity Research.

A CNN survey earlier this year showed former President Donald Trump with a lead among Latino voters, polling 50% to Biden’s 41%. Once Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris the race tightened. The latest CNN survey shows Harris is now leading among Latino voters, polling 47% to Trump's 45%.

A newly released New York Times/Siena poll also found if the 2024 presidential election were held today, 60% of Hispanics would vote for Harris, 36% would vote for Trump, and 3% don’t know who they would vote for in the election.

The top issues among Latinos are the U.S. economy and inflation.

Vianey Pineda, a 19-year-old Latina, said she feels “neutral” about Harris’ bid to become president. One of her biggest concerns is the economy.

“Day to day necessities, even women’s hygiene, is very expensive,” Pineda said.

This year Latinos are expected to turn out to the ballot box in record numbers, accounting for roughly 15% of all eligible voters in the election. They also tend to be younger than the overall pool of eligible voters, according to the Pew Research Center.