Last Monday (27), the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, traveled to Houston as a participant in an event for the city's Hispanic community, organized by the “CongressionalHispanic Caucus” (CHC), a nonprofit political organization that seeks to engage Hispanic voters around the United States, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories.

As part of the 2024 election campaign, Harris' appearance is possibly aimed at reaching out to Latino voters as that group's support for President Biden wanes. To put it into context, in 2020, Biden won 65% of the votes of Latinos/Hispanics, and, according to a survey by The Times/Siena for the next election, the president would now have 50% support from this electorate, a worrying situation for the current occupant of the White House. In this sense, it is possible to understand that there are motivations behind this visit as it represents the beginning of the dispute for Biden's re-election.

With the presence of more than 200 people, from members of the Caucus to public figures – Democratic congresswomen and the vice president – ​​the event discussed issues relevant to the Latino community, such as mental health, abortion, weapons and micro-entrepreneurship. Furthermore, Kamala played a fundamental role in the conversation, considering her administration highly praised by other members of the Hispanic community present, such as local judge Lina Hidalgo, who said: “It is very difficult for you to find an administration that has done more for the Hispanic community ”.

It is worth noting that other political figures, such as Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston, and representatives Al Green, Lizzie Fletcher and Sheila Jackson Lee also praised the Biden administration. Furthermore, the vice president emphasized the country's moment of tension in which “freedoms and rights are being attacked” and that it is necessary to build a “strong coalition” to deal with this, referencing the support of the Hispanic community against possible radicalism from the Republican opposition.

In this sense, Harris' visit denotes how the Biden administration is making efforts to reach out to the Latino community, which is extremely fundamental to the president's re-election. It is worth mentioning that, in the last three presidential elections, this community's vote favored the majority of Democratic party candidates: 71% of votes for Obama, 66% for Clinton and 65% for Biden. However, the support of almost 35 million voters is decreasing for the Democrats, something already signaled by the drop in the percentage of votes in the last elections. Furthermore, recent polls indicate a decline in Latino support for the current president, as pointed out by The Times/Siena, which revealed that the majority of Hispanics believed that Donald Trump would do a better job in the economic area. However, the poll was based on responses from just 235 registered Hispanic voters.

However, just because polls indicate that Biden is losing support from Latinos does not mean that the president will not actually be able to win votes from this community, it is still too early to decide whether there will be a concrete loss of support. Furthermore, some of Biden's actions, such as the “Inflation Reduction Act” and investments in industry, have not yet had an impact on part of the American population, affecting the president's approval. It must also be considered that, according to the organization “UnidosUS”, next year's presidential contest will be the first in which 22% of eligible Latino voters will vote in a presidential election. About a third of the electorate is new since the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton faced Trump.

It is worth noting that Biden's campaign is already investing heavily in winning the Latino vote, opening up possibilities for future benefits, represented by Kamala Harris' visit to Houston this week. In other words, it is still too early to indicate whether there is an effective loss of the Latino vote, however, as Domingo Garcia, president of the Latin Union of Latino American Citizens (LULAC), indicates, the growth of Latino participation in elections is a decisive factor, considering that the next president of the United States will need the support of part of this community. However, some trends show that Latinos have moved closer to Republicans in some states, such as Florida. As one of the most populous states in the United States, Florida is a swing state for many presidents who have reached the White House. Biden, however, was one of the first to not win the state, but still win the electoral contest. That is, in the last presidential election, Trump won 55% of the votes of Americans of Cuban descent in the state and, in Miami, he increased the number of votes he received compared to 2016. During the dispute with Clinton, the former president obtained approximately 340 thousand votes in the city, bringing this number to almost 530 thousand in 2020.

In the last electoral contest, Biden was unable to increase his support in Florida, resulting in the loss of key delegates in the state. However, even with the election of Latino Republican politicians in parts of the country, it is likely that the current president will continue to have the support of this group, as there are points that separate Latinos from Republicans: there is no official Republican agenda that is popular among Latino voters; with the end of the pandemic and economic stabilization, it is likely that Latino agendas will move away from this topic, something that helped Trump at the time; Additionally, in 2022, the midterm elections showed that Latinos continued to support Democrats and were instrumental in extremely close races. Even with falling popularity, the chances of Latinos continuing to support Biden and the Democrats are high, but it is also evident how some groups in particular, such as Cubans, are tending to support the Republicans.

Therefore, it becomes clear that Kamala Harris's visit to Houston goes beyond mere participation in a Latino community event. Her presence reflects an assertive strategy by Biden's campaign, aiming to consolidate support for possible re-election, especially in the face of a possible loss of support from Latino voters. The absence of a defined program on the part of Republicans, including possible candidate Donald Trump, keeps this community in tune with the Democrats. However, only during the election season will it be possible to discern whether significant changes will occur in the Latino voting scenario.