Tuesday, October 15, 2024

A record of 42 Latinos will serve in Congress

A record 42 Latinos are set to serve in Congress next year following Tuesday’s midterm elections, the most representation ever reached by the demographic on Capitol Hill, according to an AP analysis.

Thirty-three Latino Democratic candidates and seven Republican candidates won their races this week, with only one race remaining undecided as of Thursday evening. Democratic House candidate Gil Cisneros is still trailing Republican Young Kim in Orange County, California.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D), both Latino lawmakers, were not up for reelection. Around 64 percent of Latinos voted for Democratic congressional candidates while 33 percent voted for Republicans, the AP reported.

Latino women were more likely to vote for Democrats than Latino men, 68 percent to 59 percent. Younger Latinos leaned more Democratic than their older counterparts, with 68 percent of those under age 45 voting for Democrats compared with 59 percent of those age 45 and over.

The AP Votecast surveyed 116,792 voters between Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, with a margin error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. Latino legislative representation has continued to grow over the past 40 years but is not proportional to the overall U.S. Latino population.

THE HILL