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New Latino Conservative Network Launches, Worries Some Dems

New Latino Conservative Network Launches, Worries Some Dems
(Dreamstime)

By    |   Wednesday, 09 March 2022 11:29 AM EST

The launch of "Americano," the country’s first Spanish-language conservative network, has political strategists believing the GOP could bolster the inroads it’s already made with the nation’s largest nonwhite voting bloc: Latino and Hispanic voters.

On Tuesday, Miami-based Americano debuted on satellite radio, and plans to stream on TV this summer. Some Democrats are worried that more Hispanic voters will drift to the right ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Atlanta-based public relations and campaign communications strategist David Johnson said the emergence of this new outlet will help “reinforce the movement we are seeing among Hispanic voters to the Republican Party.”

Americano’s founder and CEO, Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo, told NBC News that there is an “appetite” for his network, which will offer a mix of news programming and commentary.

“You see it on social media,” he said. “You see it in elections.”

Hispanic and Latino voters make up a growing portion of the electorate, and Republicans have successfully attracted more and more of them during the past several elections. And their shift toward the right has to do with more than just support for former President Donald Trump.

It appears that Republicans are holding, and even growing, their gains from 2020, when Trump won the support of large numbers of Cuban Americans in South Florida and Mexican Americans in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, a former Democrat stronghold. Trump also won over support from Venezuelan Americans and Puerto Ricans in South Florida.

By pushing a strong anti-socialist sentiment, backing blue-collar workers, and supporting pro-business policies amid the coronavirus pandemic, he was able to garner more support from Hispanic and Latin voters than he did in 2016.

Nationally, Trump won 32% of Hispanic/Latino voters and scored the highest percentage of nonwhite votes for the GOP since 1960, according to exit polls.

Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said Hispanic and Latino voters were attracted to Trump and the Republican Party in 2020 because of the patriotism they exude for America.

“Democrats always assumed the way to reach them was through government benefits and immigration reform,” he said. “The fact is, what they all have in common, is they, or their ancestors, chose to be Americans, even sometimes risking their own lives.”

Because Hispanics and Latinos are “very invested in this country,” he believes that the “woke left’s” push to turn on America fueled Trump’s “enormous victories among Latinos, particularly in Florida.”

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Battleground Survey Project, Democrats’ advantage over Republicans when it comes to Hispanic voters has narrowed and stands at 44% to 37%.

Back in 2000, exit polls found that Hispanic voters split 63% Democratic and 36% Republican.

“Hispanic movement toward Republicans is real. Republicans are winning on the issues that matter most to Hispanic voters and are well-positioned to capitalize on Democrats’ extremely unpopular policies,” the NRCC said in a memo outlining the survey.

The Republican Party has remained actively engaged with Hispanic voters since 2020, and that work showed following Texas’ primary.

GOP turnout was more than doubled in the blue-leaning Rio Grande Valley — the southernmost tip of Texas bordering Mexico — compared to the last midterm primary and preferred Republican candidates won several down-ballot races.

While Democrats still outvoted Republicans by roughly 35,000 ballots, the GOP was able to narrow the deficit from about 49,000 in the last midterm primary.

The Republican National Committee called it a “historic day for South Texas.”

Because demographics aren’t favoring Democrats like they once envisioned, strategist David Johnson said they should be “freaked out” that a new network that promotes more right-leaning policies on hot-button issues that appeal to Hispanics and Latinos, such as discussions about immigration and law and order, will be widely accessible.

He said the Democrats repeatedly have failed to understand that Hispanic and Latino voters aren’t a monolith and their viewpoints on topics can vary. During the 2020 election, the GOP appealed to voters on a variety of topics, playing up the threat of socialism posed by the Democratic Party in some regions and touting a strong economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic in others.

“Hispanics don’t like being pigeonholed,” Johnson said.

Several Democrat strategists told NBC News they are concerned that Americano, which already boasts 29 commentators and about 10 reporters, could be a political success for the GOP.

Pollster Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based consultant who oversaw former President Barack Obama’s national Hispanic outreach, told the outlet that Democrats should be worried.

“For those concerned about the disinformation problem harming Democrats' chances with Hispanics, this is a Defcon 1 moment. We should worry,” Amandi said. “The Democrats’ response to all of this Hispanic outreach from Republicans — whether it's disinformation or conventional campaigning — is to do the bare minimum. Unfortunately, some Democrats are deluding themselves. The ultimate act of disinformation is to pretend that this is not a big problem.”

Garcia-Hidalgo told NBC that Democrats should be scared.

"Democrats took Hispanics for granted for too long, and no one thought to create a home for us in conservative media,” he said.

San Francisco-based political and communications strategist Brian Sobel agrees that Democrats have taken Hispanic and Latino voters for granted by assuming recent immigrants or first-or second-generation Americans wouldn’t have anything in common with a “bunch of old, Republican, white people.”

However, he said that is far from the case noting that many Hispanic and Latinos hold conservative values on family, religion, and are decidedly anti-abortion. 

“This new network gives Latino and Hispanic conservative a place to go to learn more and have their points of view either reinforced or verified,” he said. “And that’s a good thing.”

Because the Hispanic and Latino population is so large and diverse, Craig Agranoff, an adjunct professor of campaigning and political marketing at Florida Atlantic University, said there is room for media outlets spanning different perspectives.

While the network plans to appeal to Cuban Americans, who have historically voted Republican, he said it provides the GOP with an opportunity to reach voters who hail from other Latin American countries, too.

Because the Hispanic and Latino vote is rapidly growing, he said the political party that “ultimately has success aligning with it will continue to win elections.”

Marisa Herman

Marisa Herman, a Newsmax senior reporter, focuses on major and investigative stories. A University of Florida graduate, she has more than a decade of experience as a reporter for newspapers, magazines, and websites.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Politics
The launch of Americano, the country's first Spanish-language conservative network, has political strategists believing the GOP could bolster the inroads it's already made with the nation's largest nonwhite voting bloc: Latino and Hispanic voters.
hispanic, tv, launch, democrats, republicans
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2022-29-09
Wednesday, 09 March 2022 11:29 AM
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