The 2024 general election saw a historic shift of Latino voters to the right, particularly with Latino men being more open to supporting President-elect Donald Trump than ever before. But while Republicans won big up and down the ballot and across the country, one Democratic Latino man, Ruben Gallego, was able to win his race with the support of fellow Latinos by his side.
Now, he's reflecting on how Democrats can win the electorate back.
A former Rep. for Arizona, Gallego was able to snatch the open Senate seat for the state, beating Republican former TV anchor and staunch Trump-ally Kari Lake by 3 percentage points, at 50% to 47%.
Gallego, a five-term House member and an Iraq War veteran, greatly benefited from the so-called "split-ticket voter," those that voted for him and Trump in the presidential ticket, netting roughly more than 90,000 votes in the state than Vice President Kamala Harris. He focused primarily on the issues that matter most to Latinos, Gallego has repeatedly explained in post-elections interviews.
Latinos have quickly become one of the most talked-about demographics after they swung 19 points to favor Trump nationally compared with 2020, according to preliminary exit polls. Harris still won a slight majority of the electorate, 52% to 46%, but it was a dramatic decrease over Joe Biden's 33-point margin in 2020.
The now Senator-elect says the Democratic Party has failed to address the deep-seated anxiety that Latino men felt over rising prices, which left them unable to provide for their families no matter how much harder they worked, according to The New York Times.
"Latino men feel like their job is to provide security for their family— economic security and physical security," he said. "And when that is compromised, they start looking around."
At the same time, he says, Democratic leaders and strategists are failing to recognize what Latinos care about— protecting and providing for their families. The combination of high prices and the administration not cracking down sooner on the influx of migrants at the southern border, he said, raised the question for many: "who's fighting for me?"
"I don't think most people in D.C. will ever understand the male Latino brain when it comes to this innate thing that we've been trained to do," he said. "I've been trained since I was a boy, like you;re supposed to provide for your family and you're supposed to protect your family. You're not a real 'man' if you're not doing both."
Gallego also points out the need for campaigns to specifically target Latinos in their outreach. He devoted significant resources to courting Latino men in a way that many voters and strategists said felt authentic, The New York Times reported. He was also quicker than many Democrats to embrace tough stances on the migrant crisis and to speak directly to blue-collar workers' frustration with high prices.
During his campaign, he also took steps to make it clear that he understood the Latino community, creating niche groups like Jefas (female bosses) con Gallego and Compas (bros) con Gallego, which courted Latino men. He also made sure to "bro-out" with Latino men in an effort to win their votes, making his efforts feel more authentic, according to the Times.
Other candidates "don't understand that part of the electorate because they're not a Marine combat veteran who grew up fighting and drinking, literally killing people in another country," said Chuck Rocha, a veteran Democratic consultant, who is friends with Gallego and is even eyeing running for DNC chair. "People try to be Ruben Gallego— not him, per se, but be a man's man and show 'I'm tough.' you can tell they're faking it."
But as Democrats now look forward to the 2026 midterm elections, can Gallego's success be replicated? That remains to be seen.
Arizona political strategists caution that his victory was partly credited to elements that were unique to this race. For one, he was running against an especially unpopular Republican, Kari Lake, and he himself is a Latino man with a working-class background. He was also able to flaunt his Harvard University degree and his young family background to appeal to suburban white voters.
"You cannot count on his cultural signifiers to win with Latinos," said Regina Romero, the mayor of Tucson, Arizona. "That is the icing on the cake, but the cake itself has to be built on substance. I believe that as Democrats, we need to double down on working families and fighting for workers."
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