Read more about the episode here.

Adam: “We often hear that like, you know, you guys are the future, you guys are tomorrow’s leaders, but we disagree. We think we are today’s leaders, and we are the moment right now.” 

Manuel: “Oh my gosh, young people are the swing voters of this election.

Donald Trump: “People that are smart.”

Youtuber’s White House: “Young people, we’re integrated into social media.”

Hilario: “Right. There’s millions of Generation Z that just don’t vote.”

Carlos: “And especially when it comes to young Latinos.” 

Christina Bejarano: “They are representing a larger portion of this emerging American electorate.”

Kamala Harris: “When that generation starts voting in their numbers, We’re going to see an abrupt change.”

Hilario: “Change that people were seeking.”

Colorado Delegate: “This is our country.”

Carlos: “The land of opportunities where anything is possible.”

Colorado Delegate: ” And we want it back.”

Colorado Delegate: (THEME MUSIC) 

Maria Hinojosa: From Futuro Media and PRX it’s Latino USA, I’m Maria Hinojosa. Today, how young Latino voters are showing up for the 2024 presidential election and two young Latinos who have been handpicked by the parties to get out the youth vote. This story is part of our special election coverage, The Latino factor: How We Vote.

Maria Hinojosa: (MUSIC FADES IN) 

Maria Hinojosa: As we get to the very end of the 2024 political campaign cycle and folks across the country already begin to cast their ballots for president. 

Voter: “I wanted to make sure my vote was going to count.”

Maria Hinojosa: Campaigns are going to get concrete evidence of what strategies worked and what flopped.

Maria Hinojosa: And this election is a landmark moment because 17 and a half million Latino voters are expected to turn out. And one out of every five will be voting for the very first time. 

Voter: “This is my first election. I’m very excited.”

Maria Hinojosa: And both the Harris and Trump campaigns are going to see if they’ve made inroads with one of the most consequential and emerging electorates, young Latino and Latina voters.

Maria Hinojosa: Our producer Monica Morales-Garcia has been on the ground in California and traveling throughout the country virtually speaking with young Latino voters. And Monica is here with me now. Hey, Monica! 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hey, Maria! 

Maria Hinojosa: So, Monica, you’re based in Southern California and you’ve been looking into how both campaigns, Trump and Harris, are working to make gains among young voters.

Maria Hinojosa: So tell us a little bit more about how they’re doing this very specifically. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Yeah, for sure. To start, both campaigns are using the tried and true techniques of organizers on the ground. You know, typical stuff, door knocking, tabling, putting on rallies. And when I hung out with young Democrats organizing in California, they were excited to vote for their candidate.

Emmanuel: “I’m really excited to have Kamala be on the ticket. I think people of color want to see someone that looks like them.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And also, young Republicans organizing, they were pumped. 

Republicans: “Kam’s winning for sure. Yeah, he’s winning. He’s winning.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And both campaigns are facing similar issues. Only about half of young eligible voters actually end up voting, and that’s a high turnout.

Monica Morales-Garcia: So in order to get the vote out, both campaigns have joined social media sites like TikTok, a platform that nearly 50 percent of all Latino adults use. 

Tiktok: “What do you have to say to the American people?” “We are not going back.” “The president is now on TikTok.”

Maria Hinojosa: So anyone who’s running a campaign at this point who wants to reach young people, you kind of have to talk to influencers, right? 

Monica Morales-Garcia: A hundred percent. And this call is coming from inside the House because both Democrats and Republicans have handpicked young people to be the campaign’s face online and on the ground in key battleground states.

Maria Hinojosa: So they’re reaching out to both parties, but what we do know is that historically young voters have leaned for the Democrats. How much gain has there been with the Republican Party to reach these young Latino and Latina voters? 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Well, that’s the thing, Maria. Latinos in the U.S. are relatively young, and while for decades Latino voters have favored Democratic candidates in presidential elections, the margins have varied in support. Actually, 37 percent of young Latinos say that the current president and the Democratic Party doesn’t care about the Latino community. This is according to the Brookings Institute. And that sort of jadedness among young Latinos, that gives the Republican Party a slight edge because the Trump campaign, they already have a solid base made up of older, non-college-educated white voters. So Republicans don’t need to appeal to every young Latino voter. They just need to chip away at the right ones. 

Maria Hinojosa: So, for example, Suffolk University, USA Today are showing that former President Trump is gaining in terms of young Black and Latino men in crucial states like Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.

Monica Morales-Garcia: That’s precisely it, Maria. Democrats are even launching an ad campaign called Hombres con Harris to target Latino men and try to combat some of that chipping away Republicans are making gains in. But, young people care about politics, and more and more in recent years. As recently as June 2020, 83 percent of 18 to 29 year olds felt that young people could change the nation, according to researchers at Duke University.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And this was especially true of the two young men I spoke with for this story. 

Maria Hinojosa: That’s why we love the fact that you went out to do this deep dive, Monica. So you’re going to start this story in Wisconsin, into that battleground state. And that’s where you find an enthusiastic Latino advocate for Trump. So tell us more, Monica, take it away. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: When I first started reporting on this story, I was looking for conservative political influencers with big followings. And this one name just kept popping up. Hilario de León, Hilario de León, but I would go on his socials and I would see that he had less than 4,000 followers on all of his accounts combined.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And like, that’s not nothing, okay? But then I saw a photo of him with Donald Trump pinned at the top of his ex. So, I thought, you know what, he must be influencing something, right? (MUSIC FADE OUT) 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Despite not having a huge online presence, Hilario was handpicked by the Trump campaign in 2020, and today, he’s hoping to get a share of young Black and Latino voters in Wisconsin to vote for the former president and flip the swing state back to red. 

Hilario: “I don’t care what I have to do, if I have to run through a war zone, he’s got my vote and I’m going to try and get it. So many other people join me, friends, family, neighbors, doesn’t matter, independents, swing voters, Democrats, anyone and everyone.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hilario is 23 and the chairman of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, representing almost 1 million people. 

Hilario: “I’m the youngest chairman that has ever been elected in the Midwest, and I am the first Latino chairman.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: He was born and raised in Wisconsin, and before we talked, he was outdoor knocking in a suit and tie. 

Hilario: “Before we had this interview, I went out campaigning for President Trump, and it was exciting to meet new people.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Along with being chairman of the Republican Party, Hilario also works as a ballot chase manager for Turning Point Action. That’s the far-right non-profit youth group aimed at turning out the Republican-leaning and undecided vote. 

Christina Bejarano: “In recent elections for the Republican Party, they see that they’re the biggest inroads to getting Latino support is to focus on young men of color.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: This is Christina Bejarano, a political science professor at Texas Women’s University.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Her work focuses on how race and gender shape and influence our current electoral environment. 

Christina Bejarano: “We’re not sure that all of them are going to support one party or the other, but they are also becoming a key demographic. in especially some of those battleground or swing states.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And to make those inroads with young men of color, the Trump campaign is tapping Hilario and other young influencers to get voters to switch.

Christina Bejarano: “That’s the way that they can appeal to young Latino men and men of color.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: But, almost equally as important, Hilario is putting a face to a demographic that has felt frustrations with the Democratic Party. Trump himself spoke about it recently. 

Donald Trump: “And I’ll tell you what, any African American or Hispanic that votes for Kamala, you gotta have your head examined because they, they are really screwing you.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And it’s people like Hilario that Trump’s campaign is trying to get. So despite his small following, Hilario is making some noise in the online world. This past year especially, it seems like he’s popped out of nowhere, but is now showing up as the face of Wisconsin’s Gen Z party leaders. He even landed a profile in Politico, the political news site, with the headline, ‘What you’re doing in Milwaukee, might actually end up saving the entire civilization.’

Hilario: “It seems that I’m somewhat becoming an influencer within the party itself.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And he told me he’s even started to get noticed by strangers. 

Hilario: “I was at an event and I could hear my name being mentioned and I looked over and the lady had her phone. I could see my profile picture and an article about me. So I went over to say hello.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hilario has been able to achieve a lot in a short amount of time. 

Hilario: “I’m, I’m just, I don’t know. I think about it every day, like I’m a part of history. I’m writing history as we speak.” 

Monica Morales-Garcia: It was only four years ago, back in 2020, that he lost his job as a dishwasher and made the career change into politics. 

Hilario: “I lost my job because of the governor’s decision to shut down the state. I was really upset, angry. I could say I was depressed because it’s like, ‘What am I going to do for work?'” 

Monica Morales-Garcia: He was 20 years old, never went to college and lived on his own. 

Hilario: “And so I was literally sitting at home. I had a cat, he’s looking at me, I’m looking at the cat and I’m just like, well, shit. Got a lot of free time on my hands. Might as well try out politics.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Before now, Hilario had never worked in politics. He had no connections. But for years he had, and still does, do Civil War reenactments, and is partial to playing Captain Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln. But other than that, he wasn’t connected to anyone in politics.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And to his admission, he was just a boy from the South Side of Milwaukee. 

Hilario: “When I look at someone like Senator Vance, I can relate to a lot of what was going on in his life.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: In 2001, Hilario was just a five-month-old baby in foster care and was eventually adopted by a white couple who couldn’t have children of their own.

Monica Morales-Garcia: His biological Mexican father left for Texas. His mother was dealing with a drug addiction. 

Hilario: “There were struggles. There was always struggles going on with family.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: When he was five, his adopted father committed suicide and he has since been raised by a single mother. They fought a lot, Hilario tells me. But in June 2015, when Trump came down the escalator to kick off his bid for the Republican presidential nominee at Trump Tower in New York City, they found common ground.

Hilario: “I was watching Fox at the time and I already considered myself a Republican. I was only 14 at the time. I couldn’t vote.”

Donald Trump: “That is some group of people, thousands. So nice. Thank you very much.”

Hilario: “And I knew I’m a supporter. I believe in everything that he was talking about.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: At the time, he was a freshman at a private Catholic high school, whose student body was almost 60 percent Latino, and to his recollection, most of the other kids had very different political views than him.

Hilario: “I was the only Trump supporter in the entire school, uh, that I know of.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: So when Trump had his first rally in Wisconsin, he and his family went. 

Hilario: “And there was a lot of viral moments that came out of that rally.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: A young woman protesting the Trump rally hit a Trump supporter in the face. And then someone in the crowd pepper sprayed the young woman.

Monica Morales-Garcia: (SCREAMS)

Monica Morales-Garcia: It was chaotic, and there were a lot of cameras. The incident made headlines nationwide.

Hilario: “So, there were some videos that people could see me in the background with a sign showing my support.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: His sign said: ‘All presidents should read The Art of the Deal,’ Trump’s 1987 memoir and business advice book. And when he went back to school after Easter break…

Hilario: “People treated me very horribly.

Hilario: They were calling me a racist, bigot, misogynist. They called me Hitler. I had the priest at one point at the school pull me aside in the cafeteria and say to me: ‘How could you support a man like Donald Trump in front of not just myself, but other students?”

Monica Morales-Garcia: He felt ostracized from all sides, his classmates and the school administration.

Hilario: “Oftentimes I had to sit by myself and eat by myself, which I didn’t mind because it meant I got to spend more time watching the rallies and doubling down on what I believed in and what I supported.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: But then former President Trump won the nomination, and then the election. 

Hilario: “And I proved him wrong.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hilario finished high school somewhere else. The private Catholic school asked him not to return after his sophomore year because of his grades. 

Hilario: “They say it was because of my algebra skills, but I think it was politically motivated. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: He graduated in 2019, but less than a year later, in 2020, he was living on his own, and things felt as though they were falling apart.

Monica Morales-Garcia: This is when everything got shut down because of the pandemic. And he was quickly realizing he couldn’t afford his place, and around the same time, the DNC was supposed to happen in Milwaukee.

Archival News: “What would have been the biggest event the city of Milwaukee hosted is now scaled back to a mainly virtual DNC.”

Hilario: “I started to look it up online and see what events were going on.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: So, with nothing else to do, and an overwhelming sense to prove everyone wrong again, He began to organize. 

Hilario: “Organize a counter protest rally called the Wisconsin for Trump Rally. And so, even though it got shut down because of COVID, the Trump campaign had gotten wind of me volunteering and doing this all on my own. And so, someone from the Trump campaign had contacted me and hired me as a field organizer.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hilario worked for the Trump campaign starting in 2020, and although he was employed, he still had troubles. Hilario’s home life wasn’t perfect, and when he was in school, he felt like an outcast. But within the Republican Party, he began to feel welcome.

Monica Morales-Garcia: He would attend events to be part of something bigger than himself. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: In the following years, he continued to work with the GOP, even landing a spot as a state party staffer for two years, and becoming the chairman of the county GOP soon after. As he spent more and more time involved with the party, his ever-growing feeling of belonging was all solidified weeks before the 2024 RNC.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Turning Point Action, close allies to former President Trump, made sure that Hilario got to meet the former president for the first time. 

Hilario: “They say never meet your heroes, but I think that’s a bullshit statement when it comes to President Trump. The hell that I’ve been put through, and then to have that opportunity… sorry, he… so I mean it was an emotional experience for me.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Hilario was nervous, but mostly excited. Announcers introduced his title and name, like a duke meeting a king. 

Hilario: “And he said, ‘That’s a big title, and you look great. I like your suit.’ He liked my suit that I was wearing. He doesn’t like sloppy dressers. And then he turned to me and said, ‘So how’s it looking in Milwaukee?’

Hilario: “And I explained to him everything that we were working on. He’s saying, ‘That’s great. That’s amazing. Excellent. Exciting to hear.’ And he ended by saying, ‘We’re going to have to get you out to Washington, DC.’ And then he shook my hand and thanked me for everything that I was doing and, uh, I was on my way.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: The interaction didn’t disappoint. It solidified his belonging to the Republican Party. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: So this election, and the last, media has been questioning what could be influencing men of color. I had that question too when I spoke to Hilario and hung out with some young Republicans in California. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: After all, the New York Times recently reported that young men of color aren’t really offended by the racist dog whistles that might turn off other voters of color.

Monica Morales-Garcia: In fact, young men might even be entertained by it. 

Renee DiResta: “I think for young men in particular, it’s, it’s part of a broader angst that they feel, you know, this struggle, this effort to figure out where do you fit in.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: This is Renee DiResta. She’s the author of ‘Invisible Rulers, The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality,’ a book about political influencers. She’s also a former research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory. 

Renee DiResta: “What does it mean to be a man? What role models do you have? There’s like, you know, there’s like an irreverence and a humor and a funniness to some of it. There’s an irony.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And I think if you scroll through Hilario’s X, you can see how funny he finds Trump.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And in person, Hilario himself is kind of a goofy guy. 

Hilario: “My cat’s giving me the stink eyes.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: As the Latino electorate continues to grow, we’ll surely see more Hilario’s pop up. But for now, he’s still kind of an anomaly. He’s not your average young Latino voter. Adopted by white parents and ostracized for his political beliefs and looking for a place to fit in, he found a home in the GOP where he was welcomed with open arms.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And like I said, Republicans don’t need every young Latino voter. That’s the Democratic base. They just need to find the anomalies, the Hilarios. And Hilario de León, he’s out there almost every day, ready with open arms to welcome any young man who has ever felt like he has. 

Hilario: “Still a lot of work that needs to be done. I won’t know if we’re successful until after the election. Even,God forbid we lose. If we see an increase of support and votes, that means that we’re on the right track.” (MUSIC FADES OUT) 

Maria Hinojosa: Coming up on Latino USA, we hear from another young Latino, this time from across the aisle. We’re going to find out what he’s doing to get the vote out to his 14 million followers. Stay with us. No te vayas.

Maria Hinojosa: Hey, we’re back. And before the break, we met a young Latino Republican from the battleground state of Wisconsin. He’s hoping his efforts on the ground are going to be enough to get his candidate Donald Trump past the finish line. But now we’re going to head to the other side of the political aisle. So let’s jump back in with Monica Morales-Garcia, who joins us with the story.

Adam: “Hi there. Welcome. Adam” 

Monica Morales-Garcia: It was 10:30 on a Saturday morning, and I was following Adam Tayabas. He’s 28 and a young Democrat in California. He was door-knocking for Harris. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: “Have you noticed any like shift to the right with any of your Latino?” 

Adam: “Yes, yes.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: “Relatives or friends or acquaintances?”

Adam: “Yeah, I think that it’s on social grounds, you know, as Latinos are a lot of us. I don’t want to say all of us. We’re raised in the church and Catholic or whatever. And so they’ve always been kind of like socially conservative. But I think that Republicans are exploiting that. But that doesn’t mean they’re unsalvageable. That we can’t get Latino men back.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And here, Adam started whispering, as if we were friends sharing a secret.

Adam: “I think that when Latino men start seeing, like, how conservatives actually think of them, and how they’ll always be the other, and never one of them, you know, they’ll realize, like, this is not the party for me.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Adam walked off to knock on a door. He had only spoken to a handful of folks. Honestly, most people just peered through their windows, refusing to answer the door.

Monica Morales-Garcia: But this time, someone finally came out. 

Adam: “Hi there, are you Tracy?”

Tracy: ” I am.”

Adam: “Hi, hi there. My name’s Adam. I’m just a local volunteer. I’m just trying to get out the vote for a few folks that are running your area. You have a lot of great people on your ballot this year.”

Tracy: “Well, we’re looking forward to it.”

Adam: “Awesome. Thank you so much.”

Tracy: “Thank you guys for doing this.”

Adam: “Of course.” 

Monica Morales-Garcia: “She was nice.”

Adam: “Yeah, she was fantastic. We love what we did good people.” (MUSIC FADES IN) 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Adam and his team of on the ground organizers are an example of getting out the Democratic vote the old fashioned way. The day I canvassed with Adam, he and his team aimed to knock on a thousand doors for Vice President Harris. But as we mentioned at the top, Democratic campaigns are also trying something new to reach and win back their base of young Latino voters.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Social media, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Democrats are tapping activists with large social media followings to reach voters that they can’t reach on mainstream media platforms. According to the Pew Research Center, Latinos tend to be younger than white or black adults, and younger people are less likely to follow the news.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Only about a quarter of Latinos say they follow the news at all, or most of the time. So the campaign tapped one of the largest political influencers on the left for young Spanish-speaking voters. 

Carlos Eduardo: “My name is Carlos Eduardo Espina. I do community activism, helping the immigrant community here in the United States. And I also make content on social media, mostly in Spanish.”

Carlos Eduardo: “Mi gente, noticia de última hora!”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Carlos is 25. He’s from College Station, Texas, and like Hilario, Carlos has gained national media attention as a political young Latino. The New York Times published a long profile about him. And they called him ‘a one man’ Telemundo on TikTok.

Carlos Eduardo: “Right now on TikTok, I have 10.4 million followers. On Instagram, I have almost a million. And then on Facebook, I have around 2.5 million.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And there’s no production team. He says it’s just him, his iPhone, and a 30 dollar ring light from Walmart. 

Carlos Eduardo: “I just move it around. When I travel, I take it with me. And that’s really, like, the extent of my equipment.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Throughout his socials, Carlos shares videos about news, immigration, the Latino community, along with commentary about food, sports, and politics. And, like countless other young people, 2020 was essential in Carlos’s political evolution.

Carlos Eduardo: “Quieres hacerte ciudadano en los Estados Unidos? Te digo cómo primero, debes…” 

Monica Morales-Garcia: The same year Hilario, the Republican organizer in Wisconsin, lost his job and started organizing for Donald Trump, Carlos, in Texas, felt compelled to start posting content that helped people through the U.S. citizenship process. 

Carlos Eduardo: “I was about to graduate college and my goal was to work for a non-profit organization in Texas that does refugee resettlement, but because of the pandemic things fell through.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Like Hilario, Carlos was left sort of directionless, not knowing where to go next. And that’s when a nonprofit reached out to him to help him teach citizenship classes online.

Carlos Eduardo: “And then slowly started trying on TikToks. And then after I ran out of content on citizenship, started branching out to just politics, news, social issues.”

Carlos Eduardo: “Razones por las cuales Donald Trump es un buen presidente… Ah, no hay ninguna, perdón, perdón, no hay ninguna,sorry, sorry”

Monica Morales-Garcia: But Carlos doesn’t think of himself as a journalist. He’s more of an advocate, and he’s spreading information he thinks will be useful and viral. 

Carlos Eduardo: “I think that’s the most important thing, you know, like you always have to provide some sort of value or use to the user. And I think that attracts people.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: It’s been working for him.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Back in February, when Biden was still the Democratic candidate, the White House found out about all the work Carlos was doing via his socials. 

Carlos Eduardo: “They invited me to meet with the White House digital communications team.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: At the same time, polling was showing that young Latino voters were pulling away support from President Biden.

Monica Morales-Garcia: So Carlos was needed more than ever to draw people back into the Democratic Party. 

Carlos Eduardo: “And then they just started inviting me back for other events, you know, started building relationships.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And like Hilario, Carlos got to meet with the president. They even made a TikTok together. 

Carlos Eduardo: “Today’s a historic day. Two executive actions that are going to benefit many people in our community.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Carlos and Biden teamed up to promote two actions by the White House. One providing some mixed-status families with a path to permanent residency, and another to facilitate employment authorization for DACA beneficiaries. It was a big moment in Carlos’ short life as a political influencer.

Carlos Eduardo: “I wanted to say thank you because, like I said, I’m a U.S. Citizen, but some of my best friends are undocumented. And they don’t have, I mean, they went to college, some of them even have PhDs. And this is going to be really huge, so thank you.”

Biden: “It is huge. We need them, man. We need them. We need them. Look, we are a nation of immigrants. That’s what built this country. That’s who we are. That’s what makes us the most powerful nation in the world.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: The TikTok video of Carlos and Biden has 16 million views, 1.4 million likes, and 75,000 comments, mostly congratulations in Spanglish. He tells me his audience is first and second-generation Latinos.

Monica Morales-Garcia: So if he’s in an area with a large immigrant population, it’s more than likely that he’ll be recognized. 

Carlos Eduardo: “We’re literally just now, five minutes ago, the cleaning lady in the hallway, she’s like, ‘Oh, I know you are from Guatemala.’ So like it happens pretty often.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And Carlos has always been close to the Latino community.

Monica Morales-Garcia: His parents are both immigrants. 

Carlos Eduardo: “My dad came to the United States in the 80s when there was a dictatorship in Uruguay.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: His father was getting his PhD at Texas A&M University and met his mother on a trip to Mexico. And together, they moved to the U.S. 

Carlos Eduardo: “But then in 1997, my mom got deported.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And for five years, his family was separated.

Monica Morales-Garcia: But eventually, they were able to reunite. 

Carlos Eduardo: “Thankfully today, both my parents are U.S. Citizens, but I still think it’s important to advocate for those people who still haven’t been able to achieve that dream.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: It’s because of his lived experiences with deportation that Carlos has always been politically active.

Carlos Eduardo: “I first got interested in the 2016 campaign after Trump made his comments about Mexicans and immigrants. 

Monica Morales-Garcia: Around the same time, Hilario was being drawn in by the Trump campaign in Wisconsin. Carlos felt a call to advocate for immigrants.

Carlos Eduardo: “I started organizing around that, pushing back on that narrative when I was in high school, and then I kept that all through college.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: He was the 2020 Student Association President at Vassar College in New York State, and he just finished law school to be an immigration lawyer. 

Carlos Eduardo: “So it was like, it wasn’t something new for me, obviously I was taking it to another level.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: You could say that. This year, Carlos was one of five social media influencers to secure a powerful speaking slot at the DNC.

Carlos Eduardo: “To be pro-immigrant is to be pro-America! And that’s why Kamala Harris understands this too. And that’s why, once elected, she will reject hate and find solutions that make our nation stronger. So let’s get her elected. Let’s get her elected. And God bless the great state of Texas.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Influencers at the convention were part of the Democratic Party’s attempt to adapt to today’s culture of news consumption.

Monica Morales-Garcia: And also to reach the emerging young Latino electorate they need to keep their base. 

Renee DiResta: “Funny enough, legacy media or journalism was actually complaining a little bit about the difference in like where they got put versus where the influencers got put.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: This is Renee DiResta again. She researches the impacts of political influencing in our modern democracy.

Monica Morales-Garcia: She says that there’s not a future where we don’t continue to have influencers in politics. 

Renee DiResta: “The term came out of marketing, actually. ‘The Influentials’ was the original name.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Brands began to realize that some people on the internet were just really great at selling stuff. 

Renee DiResta: “And then you wound up with political influencers as political campaigns realized that the same sort of capacity for persuasion that could help somebody decide to buy a pair of shoes could be used to help somebody decide to vote for a particular candidate.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Carlos’ relationship with the White House began with President Biden, but since he’s dropped out of the race and Vice President Harris has entered, Carlos is on board and the Harris campaign is happy to have him. They also made a TikTok together. 

Carlos Eduardo: “Straight up, why should Latinos, why should people in my community vote for you?”

Kamala Harris: “Well, there are many reasons. First of all, I’d say, first point is that I, I strongly believe none of us should ever take ourselves out of the ability to weigh in. And one of the ways you weigh in about the future of your country is to vote.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: And come November 5th, he believes Kamala Harris will certainly win the Democratic young vote, like Biden did, and Obama did, and even Hillary Clinton did.

Carlos Eduardo: “It’s not about of whether she’s gonna win the young vote, that’s almost guaranteed. I think the issue is how many people are you actually able to turn out because among the young people who are gonna vote, I’m pretty confident she’s gonna win that.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: But what he’s not so sure about is if young voters in general will turn out to vote.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Since 1986, there has been an enduring 26 point gap in youth voter turnout in comparison to older adults in presidential elections. And that only widens in midterms and local elections. And although both parties have aggressively courted Latino voters this year, this election Latinos will most likely remain aligned with the Democratic Party.

Monica Morales-Garcia: Even as some indicate that the party and the president have not helped them directly. 

Carlos Eduardo: “There is like a more real critique of the Democrat policies that a lot of people feel like the Democrats have abandoned them or maybe haven’t paid attention to them. And I’m not saying that’s necessarily the case, but I do think the Democrats haven’t done a good enough job of making that outreach and doing that work with the community day in and day out.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: So Carlos does what he can to help the party. And he thinks that he and other influencers and content creators like him are making a difference. 

Carlos Eduardo: “And I think, yeah, we move masses, we have a big audience, we have a big reach, and that translates to power. There’s really no real way to measure the impact, but we definitely have an impact. I think it all is within a context of every little thing matters.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: Both campaigns understand that every little interaction counts when it comes to the young Latino vote. Even a small population could tip the balance of power. 

Carlos Eduardo: “What influencers have, like myself included, we have the reach that the parties don’t have. Whatever the message is, if the whoever’s receiving it doesn’t have a strong bond or relationship with the messenger, then it’s not as effective.”

Monica Morales-Garcia: So as we steer closer and closer to election day, like the Titanic hitting the iceberg, only time will tell if Carlos and Hilario have helped to shift the balance of power in favor of their candidate.

Monica Morales-Garcia: For now, what we know is that young Latino voters are craving political change, regardless of the candidate. And yet, they’re not voting in the numbers we’d expect. And that’s why campaigns have tapped into young people online and on the ground to convince their peers to go out and vote. So, whatever happens, whoever wins, the question we should be asking is not if young people will come out and vote. Because we know they want to, we should be asking if our next president is willing to make the changes that activate young people to the polls. (MUSIC FADES OUT) 

Maria Hinojosa: Dear listener, can you believe it? Today’s show is the last part of our special election coverage for the 2024 presidential election. It’s called The Latino Factor: How We Vote. Well it’s going to be The Latino Factor: How We Voted. So truly, how could we have imagined that a year ago, when we launched this series, that we were kicking it off with a sit-down, face-to-face interview with the woman who back then was simply the vice president, but who would end up at the top of the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris: “Part of what is wrong right now with what is happening in our country is there is a some perverse kind of suggestion that the strength of a leader is measured based on who you beat down instead of who you lift up.”

Maria Hinojosa: Over the past year, we hit the ground from San Diego all the way to New Jersey to try to tell stories that reflect the nuances of Latino and Latina voters and explain the distinct policies and issues that we care about most.

Maria Hinojosa: Those would be the economy, gun control, reproductive justice and abortion access, housing, foreign policy, disinformation, and of course, immigration. All of it, we brought it front and center in the Latino Factor and talked about how this shapes us as a country, as we get prepared to vote. So from all of us at Latino USA, stay tuned for next week when we’ll have a special election day coverage program, and we’re going to dig into what to expect from the next president of the United States of America.

Maria Hinojosa: Y como siempre, no te vayas. (MUSIC THEME) 

Maria Hinojosa: This episode was produced by Mónica Morales-Garcia. It was edited by Mitra Bonshahi. It was mixed by Gabriela Baez with engineering support from JJ Carubin. Fact-checking for this episode by Roxana Aguirre. 

Maria Hinojosa: The Latino USA team also includes Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Estrada, Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Stephanie Lebow, Luis Luna, Glorimar Márquez, Marta Martínez, Nour Saudi, and Nancy Trujillo. Peniley Ramírez is our co-executive producer. I’m your host and also co-executive producer, Maria Hinojosa. Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime, you know where to find us on social media, and I’ll see you on Instagram.

Maria Hinojosa: And remember, no te vayas, have a good one. Chau. 

Sthepanie Lebow: Latino USA is made possible in part by Skyline Foundation, the Tao Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.