$5,000 payout that Trump promised<\/a> if Republicans keep control of Congress, which Martinez thought was so hilarious that he played a laugh track. <\/p>\nThen a trucker shared a silver lining from high diesel prices \u2014 he was expecting to take an unplanned vacation because he could no longer afford to fill up his rig. <\/p>\n
Martinez has been hosting his show for nearly a decade in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where Latinos have gone from a fifth to nearly a quarter of the population over the same time period. He added an hour of politics to his morning talk show at the end of Trump’s first term, and listeners flooded his phone with their worries about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, their unhappiness with inflation and their concern over Joe Biden’s age. <\/p>\n
Now, at the halfway mark of Trump’s second term, Martinez said people are just as frustrated as they were then. They’re angry about higher prices for fuel and groceries, and Republicans could face the consequences in the midterm elections. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid. That\u2019s what it is. I mean, things have gotten so bad,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t think Biden did a good job. Everything was expensive and now it\u2019s worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Latinos make up a key part of a winning coalition <\/p>\n
Martinez broadcasts from a fourth floor studio with hardwood floors and a view of an old church in downtown Allentown. He operates the show’s control board like an orchestra conductor and sits in front of a poster with campaign signs for Democrats and Republicans. <\/p>\n
The studio is located in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, where freshman incumbent Ryan Mackenzie faces Democratic challenger Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and union official, in one of the most closely watched races in the country. <\/p>\n
Latinos are about a quarter of the district’s population, and they were a key part of Trump’s winning coalition two years ago. <\/p>\n
Both candidates have organized Latino outreach efforts.<\/p>\n
Brooks calls his \u201cBombero Bob\u201d \u2014 Spanish for firefighter \u2014 and recently stopped by a Mexican restaurant and a barber shop with a Dominican flag hanging inside. Mackenzie’s campaign has promoted support from Latino voters and officials, and the congressman opened a district office in downtown Allentown with Spanish-speaking staff. <\/p>\n
Martinez is a longtime critic of the president, and this year is backing Brooks. But he said his political roots are in the Republican Party. He supported candidates like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, and he opposed Biden’s decision to seek reelection because he was too old. <\/p>\n
Martinez said he uses his show to keep people engaged with politics when some have despaired about the prospect of things getting better .<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a call yesterday from a guy that said that he was just not going to vote,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI understand that feeling of frustration, but not doing nothing is not the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Economic stress looms over the campaign<\/p>\n
Republicans know Martinez’s show is an avenue to reach voters, and they’re buying advertising time on it. <\/p>\n
Jackie Rivera, vice chair of Lehigh County Republicans, said the party wants to hold on to the support from Latino voters that Trump won over two years ago, and that means connecting with them on issues like \u201cfaith and family.\u201d <\/p>\n
Although Trump often brags about the economy under his leadership, she said her party wasn’t making the same mistake as Democrats did before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not pretending everything is great right now,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to be honest with them so that they can believe in you and actually trust in what you\u2019re stating to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Tuerk, Allentown\u2019s Democratic mayor, said this year\u2019s election has the \u201csame vibes\u201d as two years ago, when Biden was trying to convince people that the economy was strong. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople on the street were like, \u2018Yeah, but my monthly childcare bill is higher and then my monthly mortgage, the price of groceries is ridiculously high,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the same story that you hear right now. There\u2019s been no improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gas and grocery prices contribute to living \u2018day by day\u2019<\/p>\n
Claudia Parrales-DeLeon, a Democratic listener from Allentown, said Martinez\u2019s show helps people feel connected as they pay more for gas and groceries and face Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it makes people less afraid, as much as it makes people more informed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She recalled listening one day when a particular caller’s story brought tears to her eyes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis one gentleman who shared how he just lost his job, he can\u2019t find work, doesn\u2019t even know where he\u2019s going to get his next meal for him and his children,” she said. <\/p>\n
Alberto Pena isn\u2019t a regular listener to Martinez, but his concerns are similar. For nearly two decades, Pena and his wife have run a Dominican restaurant in Allentown, where the aroma of crispy pastelillos and savory rice fill the dining room.<\/p>\n
He voted for Trump hoping he\u2019d turn things around after high inflation under Biden. But they’re still \u201cliving day by day,\u201d and he’s leaning toward Brooks this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not what we expected,\u201d he said. \u201cThe economy is completely on the ground.”<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 Una sola cosa. Just one thing. That’s all Victor Martinez wanted from listeners of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[125165,119,121,120,1583,125168,34,902,1681,17182,125166,125167,1578,79551,2459,50,4527,1582,44,12408],"class_list":["post-304868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-alberto-pena","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-bob-brooks","tag-claudia-parrales-deleon","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-entertainment","tag-ethnicity","tag-jackie-rivera","tag-jeb-bush","tag-joe-biden","tag-marco-rubio","tag-matt-tuerk","tag-politics","tag-race","tag-ryan-mackenzie","tag-u-s-news","tag-victor-martinez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304868","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=304868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}