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Democrats are seizing on their sweeping midterm victories to demand immigration reform, even as polling shows economic concerns far outpaced it as a priority for both Democratic and Hispanic voters.
The push follows Democratic gains nationwide, including wins in Texas congressional districts redrawn to favor Republicans and major upsets in the state’s Senate and gubernatorial races. Some winners are casting the results as a mandate to challenge President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and putting prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidates on notice.
“Whoever wants to get our support in ’28 has to prioritize immigration reform, period,” Rep.-elect Bobby Pulido, D-Texas, who defeated Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz in South Texas, said last Wednesday at a news conference alongside fellow Texas Democrats pushing for immigration reform.
But Fox News Digital polling showed 27% of Republican voters ranked immigration as their top issue, compared to just 3% of Democrats.
Pulido flipped a redrawn, Republican-leaning South Texas district, ousting De La Cruz, who won her re-election in 2024 by 14. 2 points. He campaigned on affordability while tying Trump’s immigration enforcement raids at worksites to workforce shortages that hurt the economy.
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Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told Fox News Digital that voters who split their tickets between Trump and down-ballot Democrats in 2024 were responding this year to both affordability pressures and the president’s immigration crackdown.
“He made a promise that he was going to bring prices down on day one. Liberation didn’t happen, so people remembered that,” Cuellar, whose district encompasses border town Laredo, told Fox News Digital. “Second thing is he said he was going to focus on criminals. He didn’t stop there. He started going after construction workers.”
Democrats’ wins came as an estimated 14.5 million Latinos voted across the country in the 2026 midterms, according to UnidosUS. The group’s Texas state director, Eric Holguín, said Democratic support among Latino voters rivaled levels seen in 2008, when Barack Obama won the presidency.
“Cost of living was the number one issue that we saw with Latino voters in Texas and across the country as well,” Holguín told Fox News Digital, referring to polling conducted by UnidosUS.
Pre-election polling conducted by Fox News Voter Poll, showed that for 45% of polled Hispanic voters, the economy was the most important issue facing the country, followed by the state of democracy for 26% of voters and then immigration at 15%.
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For Hispanics voting in Texas, polling followed a similar trend with the economy the number one issue for 45% of voters, the state of democracy for 25% of voters and immigration for 15%.
“People right now, they see their pocketbooks, they see the bank accounts, they the grocery bills, they see they’re electric bills, they see there gas bills and they’re saying, ‘Hey, a lot of promises were made to us in 2024 by President Trump, and he’s had almost two years to deliver on those promises, and not only has he not delivered on those promise, he’s made them worse with the war in Iran!,'” Holguín said.
Trump said that the Iran war hurt Republicans in the midterms, as conflict in the Strait of Hormuz has destabilized oil supply chains, causing gas prices to soar.
Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Fox News Digital that voters were likely motivated by a rejection of Trump rather than enthusiasm for Democrats’ policies.
“It was driven by an anger that the president hasn’t delivered on the promises that he made, particularly bringing down the cost of living and decreasing international tensions,” Olsen said. “People see that inflation is higher than when he took office, and America is involved militarily in more places than they were under the Biden administration, and that’s not what they thought they were getting.”
HISPANIC VOTERS ARE NATURAL CONSERVATIVES. REAGAN KNEW. GOP NEEDS TO PROVE IT AGAIN
During a 60 Minutes interview, Trump said some of his deportations policies were “too tough”and that a deal with Democrats was “doable.”
Miguel Valenzuela, a business owner in Texas who joined American Families United for the Nov. 11 news conference, said he had spent years warning Republicans that their approach to immigration risked alienating Hispanic voters who otherwise shared some of the party’s values.
“Hispanic values, family, faith, hardworking,” Valenzuela, who does not identify as a Democrat, told Fox News Digital. “That sounds like a Republican, right? “
Valenzuela said he had attended local Republican political events and urged the party to address immigration reform before pushing away an entire voting bloc. He argued that children of immigrants were reaching voting age and making their frustrations known at the ballot box.
“Those kids have now became of age and they are voting. And since they are now voting, this is exactly what I had been warning about for years. And it happened last week,” Valenzuela said.
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Holguín warned Democrats that keeping Latino voters’ support will depend on delivering results.
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“They’re put on notice right now. Everyone’s watching what they do,” Holguín said. “They’re looking for major change in how our government’s run and how our government delivers for the people.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
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