Latina voter tells WaPo she’s lost faith in Democrats to handle education: All ‘politics and not about kids’
Latino support for Democrats fell 13 points since November of 2018
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ex-Democratic Latina voters told The Washington Post they were now voting Republican because the party better represented their values and priorities.
Valeria Gurr, who emigrated from Chile more than a decade ago, was once a registered Democrat but is voting Republican in November. The Post reported she had "lost faith" in the Democratic Party to lead on one of her top issues: education.
"They basically told me that if they are supportive [of school choice], they cannot put their face to it because it will mean that they will lose their seat," she said. "I basically realized it was about politics and not about kids. It was like a growing-up moment. It was like, ‘Oh, I’ve been very naive to think it’s about the kids,'" she told the Post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polls have suggested Hispanic voters are shifting towards supporting the Republican Party and away from Democrats. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another ex-Democrat, Iris Ramos Jones, came to the United States from Ecuador nine years ago and told the paper that her values of "family, freedom and hard work" were more in line with the GOP's values.
"There are good things about both parties, but my personal values are more aligned with them. Family. Freedom. Hard work. I don’t need and I do not appreciate the government telling my kids what they should believe or not," she said to the Post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hispanic Texas Republican congressional candidates Cassy Garcia and Monica De La Cruz, as well as Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, are aiming to lead more Hispanic voters to support the Republican Party. (Garcia - Fox News Digital, De La Cruz - National Republican Congressional Committee, Flores - Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images )
Jones also worried that Democrats were driving the country towards socialism.
"My country had been destroyed [by socialism]," Jones said, referring to her native Ecuador. "I know what socialism looks like. And it is very unfortunate that this is the path we are going in this country right now," she said. "... I didn’t come here and sacrifice so much just for my child to have to live in the same type of country that I was born in," the Post article read.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}October 10, 2020 - Orlando, Florida, United States - People hold placards after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence addressed supporters at a Latinos for Trump campaign rally at Central Christian University on October 10, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The two former Democrats spoke to the paper for part of its midterm coverage on Latino voters in Nevada. The piece's headline read, "The Latino vote shifted toward Republicans in 2020. Will it again?"
Inflation hurting small businesses and backlash to school closures are other reasons why the GOP may gain more Latino voters this fall, according to the analysis.
Ruy Teixeira with the American Enterprise Institute told the paper that Republicans were attracting voters because Democrats had moved "very noticeably" to the left.
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A recent NBC/Telemundo survey found Democrats lost 13 points with Latino voters since the last midterm election.
A whopping 75% of voters were dissatisfied with the direction the country was headed in an August Fox News poll.