'You have to build their trust': Can Nevada Democrats win back Latino voters?

As a first-time voter, Mixtli Gutierrez, an 18-year-old student living in Las Vegas, said she is excited to vote for progressive candidates in the primary Tuesday. 

Gutierrez, whose family hails from Nicaragua, said she's recently noticed many in the Latino community who voted for President Donald Trump have now turned away from him. She said many have grown fearful of immigration raids, adding that she has seen some of her friends get deported. 

At the same time, the rising cost of living has created a lot of frustration.

"They believed that he would help the economy and would help everyone get jobs," Gutierrez told The Indy in an interview. "I feel that now people see that's the opposite of what happened."

Democrats across the country are betting that Latinos' growing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration — especially on the key issues of affordability and immigration — can help them win back some of the voters they lost in the 2024 election. The demographic has helped fuel recent Democratic wins in swing states, including Democrat Eileen Higgins' successful bid for mayor of Miami. 

Democrats hope they can make similar strides in Nevada, where Latinos make up 1 in 5 voters. The challenge is significant. Latino turnout has historically lagged in primary and midterm elections, and Nevada's Latino electorate shifted noticeably to the right last year. Still, Democratic strategists and advocacy groups believe there is an opportunity to reconnect with Latino voters if outreach begins well before the general election.

"If we are only waiting until the general to talk with them, this is gonna happen again," said Cecia Alvarado, a Latina political consultant and campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate Alexis Hill, talking about how many in the Latino community switched to voting Republican in 2024. 

"You got to engage them early. You have to build a rapport, build their trust," Alvarado said.

In the 2024 election, Trump won 35 percent of the state's Latino vote — an increase of 8 percentage points from 2020. At the local level, several Trump-backed candidates performed well in down-ballot races, most notably Rafael Arroyo, who nearly overtook Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas).

There are signs the tide is shifting. A May poll from the nonprofit UnidosUs showed 1 in 4 Hispanic Trump voters would not vote for the president again if given the choice. A survey the organization conducted of 300 Latino voters in Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado found that nearly 75 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump's job performance.

Efforts to recapture the vote are already underway. Earlier this year, a coalition of Latino advocacy groups launched a get-out-the-vote campaign focusing on more than 40 federal and state races, including in Nevada. In October, the progressive network Way to Win kicked off a $1.4 million campaign in Nevada and five other states to convince Latinos that Trump's economic promises have fallen short and his immigration tactics go too far.

But those working at the local level say there is not enough outreach and a fundamental misunderstanding in how to effectively communicate with the demographic. Jose Solorio, a longtime Nevada-based political consultant, told The Indy that in comparison to other swing states, such as Texas and Florida, there are far fewer Democratic community-based organizations focused specifically on Latino constituents.

"We don't spend money on Latino voters," Solorio said. "The party doesn't support Latino candidates like they should." 

Solorio, who is working on a campaign for James Lally, a progressive who is challenging Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) in the Democratic primary, argued the party needs to be more inclusive. He added that many traditional and religious Latinos didn't feel represented by the Democratic Party, a dynamic he believes contributed to the community's rightward shift.

Part of Democrats' latest strategy in Nevada is trying to appeal to those more moderate voters, including by playing down progressive immigration policy. A fall Pew Research report found that three-quarters of Latino Catholics disapprove of Trump's job as president in his second term. Meanwhile, polling from UCLA's Latino Policy and Politics Institute demonstrates that moderate Republicans are more likely to break with Trump on immigration than other conservatives.

The immigrant advocacy group Make the Road Nevada, which has long pushed for progressive policies on immigration, told The Indy it is making strides to include more traditional voices, even sponsoring events catered toward them. 

"We've been trying to put our foot in that space," Tony Ramirez, the government affairs manager for Make the Road Nevada, told The Indy. "We recognize that a lot of folk who trend toward conservative candidates have not been incorporated into conversations." 

It could be an uphill battle. Turnout among Latino voters remains low in comparison to other demographic groups. Between 2020 and 2024, turnout among young Latino voters fell off sharply, and the May UnidosUS poll found that motivation to vote among Latinos in the Southwest remains low. Those younger Latinos who did turnout tended to skew to the right. 

For Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the politically powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the solution is straightforward: prioritizing affordability and the working class.

More than half of the union's members are Latino, and the organization has long been considered one of the most influential political forces in Nevada, credited with helping Democrats maintain a 12-year presidential winning streak in Nevada. 

Pappageorge said the issues motivating Latino voters are largely the same as for other working-class voters.

"It's an unaffordable economy and the Republicans have abandoned them," Pappageorge said.