The influx of Hispanics into Pennsylvania has made it a key demographic in the largest 2024 election battleground state, and an editor at The Financial Times is hailing their support for Vice President Kamala Harris as momentum-changing.
Edward Luce, a liberal activist columnist who authored the anti-Trump book "The Retreat of Western Liberalism" in 2017, wrote an editorial "Pennsylvania is slipping from Donald Trump's grasp."
The headline belies the fact President Joe Biden won the state in 2020, but it suggests Trump once had momentum in the critical state that Vice President Kamala Harris is now able to cut into with the help of Hispanic voters.
"Since Harris replaced Biden almost a month ago, the energy in Pennsylvania has shifted dramatically," Luce wrote, suggesting the Trump campaign is not pandering to the 600,000 Hispanic adults in Pennsylvania, a state that was decided by less than 100,000 votes in the past two elections.
But, in a Trump campaign rally first in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night – perhaps in recognition of Luce's narrative – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump brought a displaced Venezuelan on stage to deliver a rebuke of Democratic socialism espoused by progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Harris.
Philadelphia-based Republican consultant Albert Eisenberg told Luce that "Hispanics could be the deciding factor" in the key battleground state, saying the Trump campaign might "be committing an unforced error" by not pandering to them more.
The Hispanic community in Pennsylvania – amid the Biden administration's open borders and migrant border displacements – is the fastest growing community in the state, Luce noted.
"The Trump campaign's apparent indifference may partly stem from complacency," he wrote. "Until Biden stepped down in late July, Trump was regularly leading the Pennsylvania polls without offering so much as a buenos dias."
Luce cited Cook Political Report's giving Harris a 5-point edge on Trump in the largest battleground state.
Notably, the Pennsylvania Hispanic population is largely Puerto Rican, according to Luce, which makes them American citizens and legal voters.
Conservatives have noted a large migration out New York City and the metropolitan area – which has long boasted a strong Puerto Rican community. Those Puerto Ricans fleeing New York for Pennsylvania could be a driving force of the growing Hispanic community, as noted by Luce.
"For Latino voters it boils down to the economy," Spanish-speaking Republican lawyer Maria Montero told Luce.
Allentown Democrat Mayor Matt Tuerk is working to connect San Juan, Puerto Rico, directly to his area, bringing the Puerto Rican Democrat voters into the fold, according to Luce.
"Hispanics won't automatically vote for either party — and many won't vote at all, but you won't get anywhere unless you meet them halfway," Tuerk told Luce.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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