Presidential race leaves Latinos feeling disconnected from politics

Adam Van Brimmer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Oct 3, 2024

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SAVANNAH, Ga. — In the view of Eduardo Delgado, the 2024 presidential election features candidates who don’t value Latino interests.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, demonizes migrants and undocumented residents, threatening to go door to door in a massive deportation effort if elected. The Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, represents a party that has repeatedly broken promises on immigration policy and has taken a hard line in recent months toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Democratic Party hasn’t “earned” the Latino vote, Delgado said.

“At the end of the day, or at least on Election Day, we have to ask ourselves, who is more likely to govern in a way that is most beneficial to the community?” Delgado said. “There’s a lot of discussion around that right now.”

Delgado, 25, is a first-generation American whose parents came to the United States from Mexico as migrant farmworkers. They settled in Toombs County, near Vidalia, and worked the area’s namesake crop, Vidalia onions, for many years. They also helped harvest other South Georgia agricultural staples, such as blueberries, cotton and pine straw.

Eduardo, who also goes by Eddie, now lives in Savannah and leads community outreach efforts for Migrant Equity Southeast, a Savannah-based advocacy organization for immigrants. Hispanics make up 3.5% of registered voters in Chatham County and have seen their numbers more than double since 2008.

Heading into the 2024 election, Chatham has the 10th largest Hispanic voting population in the state at 8,026 and the second most among counties located outside metro Atlanta.

Delgado is concerned about Latino turnout for the Nov. 5 election. His work exposes him to a broad swath of the Latino electorate, and he’s noticed many in the community are disconnected from politics. Latino turnout in Chatham County was 44% for the 2020 election, well below the county’s overall turnout percentage of 67%.

Delgado has noticed an uptick of interest in Trump’s third bid for the presidency. While Trump’s rhetoric around immigration is off-putting to many, the former president’s talk about curbing inflation and improving the economy resonates with others, Delgado said. So do policy proposals, such as no taxes on tips.

Trump visited Savannah on Sept. 24 to tout his economic agenda at the Johnny Mercer Theatre.

“A lot of us in the Latino community look at what bills we have to pay and how hard we have to work to pay those bills,” Delgado said. “So when you have one candidate talking about a financial boom that’s going to come if they’re elected, it can sound enticing to folks who don’t have a lot of context with political issues.”

Savannah-area Hispanic business leaders are more in tune with politics and are troubled by the economic rhetoric coming from both candidates, said Alfonso Ribot with the Metropolitan Savannah Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. But many have experienced the business climate under Trump and Harris and are picking between the lesser of two evils.

“The current administration, you know what to expect; there’s stability even if you don’t necessarily like how things are,” Ribot said. “With Trump, you just don’t know what he’s going to do, and the uncertainty becomes a challenge.”

The economy is a complicated issue in Savannah, where a growth in jobs and activity has put pressure on the costs of goods, services and, most significantly, housing. Chatham County has a housing shortage recently estimated at 10,000 units, driving up rents and home prices.

The Latino community is feeling the squeeze. A study conducted earlier this year by financial services company Cashnet ranked Savannah the ninth least affordable city in the United States to pay rent on an average salary.

Those Latinos thinking about the election beyond their wallets are wrestling with other issues, Delgado said. International relations, particularly as it pertains to Israel and the Palestinians, are divisive points, as is the abortion issue, which has long split the Latino community and its large number of Catholics.

For Delgado, though, his vote will come down to immigration policy positions. His parents are undocumented, and his brother gained citizenship only because of his service in the U.S. military.

“My parents have been here for decades, and I still have concerns about them and their being able to stay,” he said. “So for me, it’s about who is more open to creating a pathway to citizenship.”