{"id":8594,"date":"2026-09-11T06:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8594"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:09:17","slug":"republicans-work-to-win-over-hispanics-at-dallas-convention-as-polls-show-24-gains-faltering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8594","title":{"rendered":"Republicans work to win over Hispanics at Dallas convention \u2014 as polls show ’24 gains faltering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DALLAS \u2014 Republicans are aggressively courting Hispanic voters at the GOP\u2019s midterm convention \u2014 highlighting candidates from the community and hammering home messaging that worked two years ago in a bid to reverse softening support.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | John Thune brushes off boos at GOP convention, says Trump isn\u2019t \u2018frustrated with my leadership\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s largest ethnic minority \u2014 comprising more than one in eight voters \u2014 could decide who holds the balance of power on Capitol Hill come January, and Republicans acknowledged that reality by lining up three Mexican-American House candidates to speak on the first day of the convention Wednesday, with two more scheduled to take the stage Thursday.<\/p>\n

President Trump won over close to half of Hispanic voters, and more than half of foreign-born Hispanics, in 2024 by claiming Democrats would make America resemble socialist-governed Cuba and Venezuela and pledging to end illegal immigration and boost wages with tax cuts on overtime and tips.<\/p>\n

Republican hopes for a long-term realignment, however, have been damped by recent polls showing support for the party among Latinos dipping to 35% or lower, reversing Trump\u2019s gains in the last election.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s speakers reprised the 2024 GOP message, painting Democrats as socialists while crowing about new tax breaks and the near-elimination of illegal border crossings.<\/p>\n

The very first speaker after Wednesday\u2019s opening prayer, Air Force veteran and former kickboxing gym owner Carlos De La Cruz, warned that Democrats would bring \u201ca return to open borders and higher taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen what these criminal enterprises do to our communities and I\u2019ve seen what happens when politicians look the other way,\u201d said De La Cruz, who is running in a district that covers parts of San Antonio and some of its suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot go back to the lawlessness that we experienced under Democrats \u2026 I\u2019ll work for safe streets, a strong economy and a country where our kids can grow up free and have a future.\u201d<\/p>\n

De La Cruz was followed by his sister, current South Texas Rep. Monica de la Cruz, who recalled their grandfather picking watermelons \u201cin the hot Texas sun so that I could stand before you today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur grandparents taught us that if you work hard and love this country, America will meet you halfway,\u201d she said, recalling \u201copen borders\u201d and runaway inflation under former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroceries went up 20%, rent ate the whole paycheck and the open border brought fentanyl into our schools and drug cartels into our neighborhoods,\u201d she went on, claiming Democrats would bring back \u201ca return to open borders and higher taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Trump, continued De La Cruz, \u201cthat border is safer than at any point in history. We passed legislation that created the largest tax cut in American history: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security. Up to $4,000 a year back in the pockets of hardworking Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the waitress in Weslaco keeps her tips, the roofer in Alamo keeps his overtime and the retiree in Beeville, she keeps her entire Social Security check.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told The Post before her remarks Wednesday that \u201cthe conversation around Hispanic voters is much deeper than traditional party boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a large Cuban and broader Hispanic population, particularly in South Florida, where many families have direct experience with what happens when socialism or communism takes hold of a country and destroys it from the inside out,\u201d said Luna, who is of Mexican descent. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat history matters when voters are looking at the choice in front of them today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luna added the convention will push the argument that there are \u201ctwo very different visions for the future of this country, and outright socialism from the Democrat Party is going to make it much harder for them to hold onto [Hispanic] support when Republicans offer a path forward that speaks to opportunity, stability, and confidence in America\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, a tough-talking, cowboy hat-wearing Republican who is challenging scandal-affected South Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and is slated to speak on Thursday, offered a blunt choice to his would-be constituents.<\/p>\n

Read more JD Vance steals 2028 show at GOP convention \u2014 attendees deem VP \u2018ready\u2019 to be crowned Trump\u2019s MAGA heir<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has the Democratic Party done for the Hispanic voters? That\u2019s my big question,\u201d he said. \u201cNo tax on tips, what [Trump] is doing for Social Security, there\u2019s a lot of things that he\u2019s doing for the people here. It\u2019s just a matter of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just need a couple more years, I think we\u2019re going to continue moving this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tijerina added that while an economic appeal helped Trump two years ago, Hispanic voters also align with Republicans on cultural issues, \u201cdon\u2019t believe in woke\u201d and feel the commander in chief is an authentic messenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a president that\u2019s actually breaking it up and being real with the people,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen all of a sudden you have a man that\u2019s really doing it for the will of the people, look at what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other scheduled speakers on the second and final night of the convention include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose father was from Cuba, and yet another South Texas House candidate, Eric Flores.<\/p>\n

Still, polls indicate economic anxiety is dragging on Republicans, with high gas prices, elevated mortgage rates and revived inflation caused by the Iran war threatening to overshadow the convention\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

\u201cHispanics will decide critical races in Texas and every poll, including the latest Univision poll, show that Democrats are reversing the gains Republicans made for several reasons,\u201d said Democratic strategist Meghan Hays.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are bleeding with this key demographic because they control every lever of government, and yet, Latinos have been the hardest hit by the economy and some families even have to donate plasma to get by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who is Cuban-American, said he feels the convention is coming too late to reverse public opinion trends, adding his party was guilty of \u201cmaybe the biggest missed political opportunity of the last one-and-a-half years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curbelo explained economic pain hit his community particularly hard because \u201c\u2018Hispanic-Americans\u2019 and \u2018working class\u2019 are synonyms,\u201d while aggressive immigration arrests of people already in the US \u201cturned off\u201d many voters, despite polls from 2024 showing backing for mass deportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president really worked hard to win Hispanic support [in 2024] beyond traditional constituencies like Cuban-Americans who have always supported him,\u201d Curbelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Hispanic Republican who spent a good 20 years trying to help the party win support from Hispanics, it is a little frustrating to see this fumble and with just a few weeks left, I think it\u2019s going to be very hard for Republicans to fully recover the confidence and the trust of all of the Hispanic-Americans who supported the president in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Another Florida Republican, longtime political strategist Bertica Cabrera Morris, said the GOP needs to counter the messaging of the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese folks that are evoking communism and socialism haven\u2019t talked to people like me; they haven\u2019t,\u201d said Cabrera Morris, who escaped Cuba as a child after her father was confined to a potato freezer and tortured for 13 days under the Fidel Castro regime.<\/p>\n

Republicans must continue to make the case to voters that socialism hasn\u2019t worked anywhere. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you will still see the importance of the Hispanic vote,\u201d she added. \u201cI hope that both parties don\u2019t forget it.<\/p>\n

Read more Protester heckles JD Vance, spices up his GOP midterm convention speech: \u2018Just discovered the symbol of the far-left\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the worst thing that could happen is they take us for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans are aggressively courting Hispanic voters at the GOP’s midterm convention \u2014 highlighting Mexican-American candidates and hammering home messaging…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans work to win over Hispanics at Dallas convention \u2014 as polls show '24 gains faltering - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8594\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republicans work to win over Hispanics at Dallas convention \u2014 as polls show '24 gains faltering - 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