{"id":277954,"date":"2026-09-03T06:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T06:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/277954\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T06:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T06:47:17","slug":"latino-majority-reading-pa-embraces-chance-to-sway-2024-election-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/277954\/","title":{"rendered":"Latino-majority Reading, Pa. embraces chance to sway 2024 election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Religion and politics frequently overlap in Reading, an old industrial city in one of the most pivotal swing states of this year\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, there is early precedent for this kind of thing. The state began as a haven for Quakers and other European religious minorities fleeing persecution. That includes the parents of Daniel Boone, the national folk hero born just miles from Reading, a town where the Latino population is now the majority.<\/p>\n

Today, the Catholic mayor is also a migrant \u2014 and the first Latino to hold the office in Reading\u2019s 276-year history. Mayor Eddie Moran is keenly aware of the pivotal role Pennsylvania could play in the high-stakes race, when a few thousand votes in communities like his could decide the future of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, with the growing Latino population and the influx of Latinos moving into cities such as Reading, it\u2019s definitely an opportunity for the Latino vote to change the outcome of an election,” Moran says. \u201cIt’s not a secret anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

A community of spirituality \u2014 and Latinos<\/p>\n

In Reading, the sky is dotted with crosses atop church steeples, one after the other. Catholic church pews fill up on Sundays and many stand for the services. Elsewhere, often in nondescript buildings, evangelical and Pentecostal congregations gather to sing, pray and sometimes speak in tongues.<\/p>\n

Outside, salsa, merengue and reggaeton music (often sung in Spanglish) blast from cars and houses along city streets first mapped out by William Penn\u2019s sons \u2014 and that now serve a thriving downtown packed with restaurants proudly owned by Latinos.<\/p>\n

This is a place where, when the mayor is told that his town is 65% Latino, he takes pride in saying: \u201cIt\u2019s more like 70%.\u201d<\/p>\n

They believe in their political sway. A Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in 2022 found that eight in 10 Latino registered voters say their vote can affect the country\u2019s direction at least \u201csome.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent Sunday, Luis Hernandez, 65, born in Puerto Rico, knelt to pray near the altar at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church. Later, walking out after Mass, Hernandez said he\u2019ll vote for Trump \u2014 even on the very day of the former president’s criminal convictions related to hush money for a porn star.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden is old,\u201d Hernandez says, and then reflects on how Trump is only a few years younger. \u201cYes, but you look at Trump and you see the difference. … Biden\u2019s a good man. He\u2019s decent. But he\u2019s too old.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks after he spoke, many more Americans would join in calls for Biden to withdraw from the race after his debate debacle, which crystallized growing concerns that, at 81, he\u2019s too old.<\/p>\n

Immigration is a key topic on people’s lips<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about Biden\u2019s age or debate performance. It\u2019s also, Hernandez says, about the border crisis. He says too many immigrants are arriving in the United States, including some he considers criminals. And, he adds, so much has changed since his Dominican-born father arrived in the 1960s \u2014 when, he says, it was easier to enter and stay in America.<\/p>\n

For some, there are other issues as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the economy, immigration and abortion,\u201d says German Vega, 41, a Dominican American who became a U.S. citizen in 2015. Vega, who describes himself as \u201cpro-life,\u201d voted for Trump in 2020 and plans to do so again in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s saying. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing, and we have a country divided,\u201d Vega says. Trump is \u201ca person of character. … He looks confident. He never gives up; he\u2019s always fighting for what he believes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there are some here who just don\u2019t favor taking sides \u2014 except if it\u2019s for Jesus. Listen to Pastor Alex Lopez, a Puerto Rican who cuts hair in a barber shop on the first floor of his home on Saturdays, and preaches on the second floor on Sundays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re neutral,\u201d he says. \u201cWe just believe in God.\u201d<\/p>\n

A city with deep industrial roots resurges<\/p>\n

Reading was once synonymous with iron and steel. Those industries cemented the creation of the Reading Railroad (an early stop on the Monopoly gameboard) that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution and became, in the late 19th century, one of the country’s major corporations.<\/p>\n

Today, the city of about 95,000 people, 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is booming once again. Reading is 67% Latino, according to U.S. Census figures, and home to high concentrations of people of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage \u2014 as well as Colombians and Mexicans, who own restaurants and other businesses around town.<\/p>\n

Political candidates are taking notice of Reading’s economic and political power. The 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania was decided by about 82,000 votes, and \u2014 according to the Pew Research Center \u2014 there are more than 600,000 eligible Latino voters in the state.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Reading still leans mostly Democratic \u2014 Biden crushed Trump in the city by a margin of about 46 percentage points in 2020 . But the Trump campaign doesn\u2019t want to miss out on the opportunity to turn it around. It recently teamed up with the Republican National Committee and Pennsylvania GOP to open a \u201cLatino Americans for Trump\u201d office<\/a> in a red-brick building near the Democratic mayor’s downtown office.<\/p>\n

Moran has made a plea to Biden and other Democrats to take notice and visit Reading before the election. It’s crucial, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s still predominantly Democratic,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the candidates need to come out and really explain that to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

One development, Moran says, is that religious leaders are now less hesitant to get involved in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings change, even for churches,\u201d he says. Clergy \u201crealize the importance that they hold as faith-based leaders and religious leaders and they\u2019re making a call of action through their congregations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message: Get out and vote<\/p>\n

A few blocks from St. Peter\u2019s, a crowd gathers inside First Baptist Church, which dates to the late 19th century.<\/p>\n

In a sign of Reading\u2019s changing demographics, the aging and shrinking congregation of white Protestants donated the building to Iglesia Jesucristo es el Rey (Church Jesus Christ is the King), a thriving Latino congregation of some 100 worshippers who have shared the building with First Baptist for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

Pastors Carol Pagan and her husband Jose, both from Puerto Rico, recently led prayer. At the end of the service, microphone in hand, the pastors encourage parishioners to vote in the election \u2014 irrespective of who they choose as the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to vote is,\u201d Carol Pagan says before her husband chimes in: \u201ca civic responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the service, the congregation descends to the basement, where they share a traditional meal of chicken with rice and beans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the principle of human rights have to do with both parties \u2014 or any party running,\u201d Carol Pagan says. \u201cI always think of the elderly, of the health system, of health insurance, and how it shouldn\u2019t be so much about capitalism but more rights for all of us to be well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both of the Pagans make clear that they won’t vote for Trump. They\u2019re waiting, like others, for circumstances that might lead Biden to withdraw, so they can support another Democratic candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our duty to shield that person with prayer \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter if that person is a Democrat or a Republican,\u201d Carol Pagan says. \u201cWe owe them that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Religion and politics frequently overlap in Reading, an old industrial city in one of the most pivotal swing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-277954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}