Republicans have gained notable support among the Latino electorate in recent election cycles in the U.S.  In this context, a conservative media network is trying to consolidate and promote these gains by trying to expand the dissemination of information in the Spanish language.

According to Politico, launched in March  2022, initiated an aggressive expansion plan in an attempt to shape the opinion of the center-right Latino community  in the country with the aim of garnering votes in 2024. The initiative is important as the country’s second largest demographic group plays an increasingly critical role in the election results.

“The network has hired more than 80 Latino journalists and producers, are expanding their radio presence to television, and by the end of the year will have studios in Miami, Las Vegas and D.C. with reporters covering the White House, Congress and embedding in 2024 presidential campaigns. This month, Americano is launching a $20 million marketing campaign to draw in new viewers”.

As a sign of its growth, the network has conducted recent interviews with Donald Trump and several elected Republicans, including Senators Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee, and Representatives Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs and Steve Saclise, as well as Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

“Ultimately, however, the Spanish language network’s intended audience isn’t the type of conservative diehards who attend political conferences or tune into Steve Bannon’s “War Room.” It’s working-class Hispanic people living in America, who prefer to speak Spanish, aren’t particularly ideological and who lack options for commentary on the news of the day”.

Democratic operators, who have long warned that the absence of more robust investments in the Spanish media may have boomerang effects, acknowledge that reaching this kind of niche audience can be a highly effective plan.

“Americano’s venture mirrors that of the liberal Latino Media Network, which in June announced the purchase of 18 Latino radio stations around the country. One of those stations, Miami’s Radio Mambi — a longtime fixture in the conservative Cuban-American community — lost several prominent hosts to Americano Media after the sale was announced. Lourdes Ubieta, Dania Alexandrino and Nelson Rubio are among those who made the switch to Americano. Most of Americano’s hosts, producers, directors and technicians came from Univision, Telemundo and CNN en Español, according to network officials”.

Mayra Flores, the Republican who won a  seat in the South Texas Congress in the June special election (becoming the first woman born in Mexico as a member of the House) and who lost the contest in the November elections to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez, recently signed a contract to become one of the main political contributors to American Media.

Also according to Politico, “The network’s ambitions are broad. By the end of this year, Americano plans to be on 25 radio stations. They have added content to every major streaming platform, and have built a digital news website and phone app. They have spent several million dollars building studios to launch new television programs, with plans underway to be on cable in every major battleground state ahead of the 2024 election, and in Puerto Rico in the coming weeks”.

Data from CNN's November poll found that Democratic leadership with Latino voters has declined nearly 10 percentage points since the 2018 midterm election, with 60% supporting Democratic House candidates in the lastcycle and 39% of the Republican Party. Four years ago, 69% of the Latino electorate supported Democrats and 29% republicans, polls showed.