{"id":193545,"date":"2026-03-06T17:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193545\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:27:10","slug":"latino-vote-boosted-james-talarico-in-texas-democratic-senate-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193545\/","title":{"rendered":"Latino vote boosted James Talarico in Texas Democratic Senate primary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Texas primary elections<\/a> took place on Tuesday, kicking off the 2026 midterm election season and giving us an early look at how national policies will influence local and statewide races. <\/p>\n

At the center of it all in the Lone Star State were the always-enigmatic Latinx voters \u2014 whose voting patterns<\/a> have long flummoxed<\/a> pollsters. <\/p>\n

The general consensus was that the ever-growing electorate was shifting to the right. The 2024 general election was viewed as a turning point:<\/a> former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won the Latinx vote.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump, meanwhile made historic gains, nabbing 48% of the Latinx vote<\/a>, the highest share by any Republican presidential candidate. Additionally, Trump made double-digit gains with Latinx men under the age of 50. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading Latinx Files <\/p>\n

Fidel Martinez delves into the latest stories that capture the multitudes within the American Latinx community.<\/p>\n

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a> and our Privacy Policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Tuesday night\u2019s elections further showed the swaying power that Latinx voters can have. <\/p>\n

In the most scrutinized race of the night, state representative James Talarico and U.S. congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) squared off for the Democratic nomination in Texas\u2019 U.S. Senate race. <\/p>\n

Talarico, who has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2018, walked away with the nomination and did so largely with the help of Latinx voters.<\/p>\n

He performed particularly well in predominantly Latinx counties, a New York Times analysis<\/a> revealed. In these municipalities, Talarico won 60% of the vote compared with Crockett\u2019s 38%. He fared significantly worse in predominantly Black counties, garnering 37% of votes while Crockett received 61%. White counties were more split with Talarico getting 56% of the votes and Crockett grabbing 45%. <\/p>\n

During the 2024 general elections, a majority of border counties \u2014 14 of the 18 municipalities within 20 miles of the southern frontier \u2014 voted for Trump<\/a>. In some of those same counties, Talarico was able to nab double-digit victories over Crockett.<\/p>\n

Talarico\u2019s profile may have been boosted in those regions in part thanks to his political association<\/a> with musician-turned-politician Bobby Pulido<\/a> \u2014 who secured the Democratic nomination for Texas\u2019 15th Congressional District on Tuesday night. The two formed an alliance despite Pulido proving to be more in the ideological<\/a> center<\/a> than Talarico. <\/p>\n

(Surely the \u201cDesvelado\u201d singer and son of Tejanx legend Roberto Pulido would recoil at the name of this newsletter \u2014 Pulido<\/a> recently pulled a Ruben Gallego<\/a> in a CNN interview and intimated that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was a coastal elitist for using it.)<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old politician\u2019s success with the Latinx voting bloc was more than incidental, a senior advisor to the Talarico campaign, Chuck Rocha, told the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Additionally, Talarico was able to merge his populist economics with his compassionate, Christian nationalism-rejecting view of Christianity <\/a>into a message that resonated with Latinx voters, who still hold strong ties to religion. According to the Pew Research Center<\/a>, nearly two-thirds of Latinx people in the U.S. identify as Chrisitians, with most being Catholic. <\/p>\n

\u201cLatinos are an aspirational people, and they want to aspire. And they are also religious people, and they\u2019re \u2026 for economic populism,\u201d Rocha said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know James four months ago, we had to go introduce him, tell them who he was, and they liked what they saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talarico also made a concerted effort to campaign in Latinx-heavy areas, and courted the help<\/a> of Latinx political TikToker Carlos Eduardo Espina<\/a> \u2014 he has over 14 million followers on the video-sharing app \u2014 on the campaign trail. <\/p>\n

Turnout for the Texas primary was exceptional, with 4.5 million Texans coming out to vote<\/a> \u2014 2.3 million ballots were cast in Democratic primaries and 2.2 million were cast in Republican races. This was by far the best primary voter presence this decade, surpassing even the 2020 primary elections.<\/p>\n

Despite the great turnout, Tuesday\u2019s votes accounted for only roughly 25% of all 18.7 million registered voters in Texas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It should also be noted that the total number of voters fell well short of the more than 11 million people who voted in the 2024 general election. So there\u2019s still a lot of unpredictability out there in the Texas electorate. <\/p>\n

These election results come amid recent polling showing that Latinx voters are souring on Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

A Tuesday CBS News poll<\/a> found that 65% of Latinx voters disapprove of Trump\u2019s current deportation program. Only 30% Republican Latinx people said they had a favorable view of their political party. Additionally, 75% of all Latinx voters surveyed felt that the Trump administration was not focusing enough on lowering prices, the struggling economy or inflation. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just polls that point to Latinx voters\u2019 about-face on Trump\u2019s policies \u2014 it\u2019s actual election results, with Texas simply being the latest example of this trend.<\/p>\n

Last year, California Latinx voters helped pass Proposition 50<\/a>, which allowed Democrats to redraw the state\u2019s congressional map in their favor \u2014 a move that directly countered a successful effort<\/a> by Texas Republicans to do the same.<\/p>\n

The Latinx population on the East Coast helped Democratic gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger of Virginia<\/a> and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey<\/a> win their races in 2025, with two-thirds of the Latinx electorate voting for the politicians. <\/p>\n

These election results have proved that more and more, Latinx people might be the last true swing voters.<\/p>\n

Cuban Fuel Crisis \"Un <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, millions of Cubans were left without power.<\/a><\/p>\n

Blackouts, which affected two-thirds of the island, including the capital city of Havana, were caused by an unexpected shutdown at one of the nation\u2019s largest power plants, the BBC reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The island nation has been plagued by power outages over the last two years<\/a> that have been caused by mechanical failures, damage from severe storms and fuel shortages.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has further exacerbated Cuba\u2019s energy crisis by cutting off all shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba in recent months. Since the abduction of Venezuelan President<\/a> Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, the Trump administration has controlled the South American country\u2019s oil reserves. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs<\/a> on countries that send oil to the island.<\/p>\n

In a Thursday interview with Politico<\/a>, President Trump said that \u201cCuba is going to fall.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe cut off all oil, all money, or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

In the same interview he took credit for the island\u2019s energy issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s because of my intervention, intervention that is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, otherwise they wouldn\u2019t have this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Trump threw out the idea<\/a> that the U.S. might \u201cend up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,\u201d though he did not fully elaborate on what he meant. He also noted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was having conversations with Cuban leadership at a \u201cvery high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fuel blockade has deeply affected the Cuban economy and brought to a halt the country\u2019s bustling tourism market. In February, Canadian and Russian air carriers paused trips to Cuba due to the country\u2019s jet fuel reserves running dry. <\/p>\n

Just this week, Air France announced<\/a> it was suspending its services to Cuba later this month until mid-June due to the fuel shortage. <\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

(Jackie Rivera \/ For The Times; Martina Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez-Baldor \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Stories we read this week that we think you should read<\/p>\n

Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n

Politics and immigrationArts, culture and entertainmentSouthern CaliforniaThe AmericasHegseth urges Latin American allies to go on offense against drug cartels (AP<\/a>)Venezuela\u2019s president vows mining reform amid visit from U.S. Cabinet member (Al Jazeera<\/a>) World Cup playoff tickets on sale for less than $17 in Mexico (ESPN<\/a>)Ecuador sinks \u2018narco sub\u2019 as nation joins forces with U.S. to target organized crime (CBS News<\/a>)Brazilian Electoral Court approves restrictions on AI use in 2026 elections (Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/a>)