MSNBC contributor Paola Ramos explained for upcoming special about Latinos that the Democratic Party is slowly losing the once-reliable Hispanic vote as strongholds in certian parts of the country are starting to go Republican.
"So the larger picture is that Latinas have been sending a message for the past four years. If you take a step back and look at 2020, Donald Trump won seven of the fourteen counties along the U.S.-Mexico border, and he was able to flip two of those, and made end significant inroads in places like the Rio Grande Valley," Ramos said.
"Fast forward to this summer, Maya Flores becomes the first Republican to win Hidalgo County in over a hundred years. Fast forward to where we are now...there’s three Latina Republicans in south Texas that are running for office that are completely transforming the dynamics of politics in Texas," she continued.
"So I think the point here isn’t to really sensationalize this story. We’re not trying to say that Republicans are winning the national Latino vote. What we’re saying Democrats are losing it. The Latinos are sending a message, and we need to listen," Ramos noted.
For the major political shift happening in south Texas, part of the reason is due to the ongoing U.S-Mexico border crisis that began under President Joe Biden as the smaller border towns, which are overwhelmingly Latino, feel the first impact. But it's not just the border crisis as the rural communities that require much longer drives have been negatively impacted by the historic cost in gas prices.
Ramos said Flores was able to win her recent special election by focusing on the social issues Latinos are conservative on, such as being religious and abortion.