Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Ciano // Stacker // Getty Images
Latinos have been the fastest-growing demographic in swing states since the last election. Could they choose the next president?
Far from the Southern border states of previous elections, a rush to court Latino votes ahead of Nov. 5 is concentrating in Pennsylvania’s hotly contested “Latino Belt”—and both camps have firmly planted their flags.
In June, the Trump campaign opened an outreach office in Reading, Pennsylvania, home to one of the largest Latino populations in the Keystone State. Nearly 7 in 10 residents of the former factory town are Latino, with many of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent. “Latino Americans for Trump,” and “Stop Illegal Voting” placards in the front window distinguished the office from the surrounding corporate spaces.
Two months later, the Harris campaign opened an office an hour’s drive northeast of Reading in Allentown, where roughly half the city’s population is Latino. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff visited the headquarters in early September, rallying the crowd in front of a decisive sign reading “Cuando luchamos, ganamos”: When we fight, we win.