Latino voters propel Donald Trump to victory in Osceola County, nationwide

Latino voters propel Donald Trump to victory

As Donald Trump gets ready for a second term as president, political experts believe he has growing Latino support to thank. For the first time in three tries, Trump won historically Democratic Osceola County with 50% of the vote against Vice President Harris with 48%.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - As Donald Trump gets ready for a second term as president, political experts believe he has growing Latino support to thank.

For the first time in three tries, Trump won historically Democratic Osceola County with 50% of the vote against Vice President Harris with 48%.

The county showcases a nationwide trend. Polling shows Trump did well with Latino voters overall, including big gains with working-class Latino men.

Osceola is 56% Hispanic or Latino, a group that has historically backed democrats by a wide margin. Latino Trump voters we spoke with focused on the economy.

"He appealed to me since day one," Latino Trump voter Robert Arias said. "I felt like he's a businessman, and he'll be able to run our country like a business."

"Trump is a businessman," Latino Trump voter Daniel Pedraza said. "He's got guts."

Trump lost Osceola County in 2016 by 25 points against Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden beat Trump by 14 points in 2020.

Trump's 2024 gains go beyond Osceola. He also won Miami-Dade County, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the county since 1988.

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A FOX News voter analysis shows the shifting demographics nationwide. Harris received more support from Hispanic voters than Trump, but he closed the gap from 4 years ago. Trump received 41% of the Hispanic vote in 2024, which was at 35% in 2020.

"I do think that Trump's rise in Hispanic voters nationally helped him get a clean sweep of all the battleground states," UCF political science professor Aubrey Jewett said.

Some pundits and political groups alike forecast doom for Trump with Latinos, especially Puerto Ricans, after a joke from a comedian at a rally in October.

"I don't know if you guys know this, but there is literally a floating island of garbage right now," Tony Hinchcliffe said in front of a crowd of thousands at Madison Square Garden in New York. "I think it's called Puerto Rico."

The joke was just over a week before the election. Though there was some blowback, it didn't cost trump the race.

Miriam Ramirez, a former Puerto Rican Republican senator, said the joke disappointed her but did not dissuade her.

"We don't have the vote in Puerto Rico, but our families in Florida—I'm in Florida," Ramirez said. "He's getting a lot of votes for sure."

The Osceola County elections chief said turnout was the highest in 30 years at 74 percent of registered voters.

John Hanley, a political science professor at UCF, said Osceola County is turning red quickly. There are 86,000 registered Democrats to 65,000 registered Republicans, but there are 86,000 people registered as "other."

"I think that Florida Democrats have to integrate Latino voters more into leadership positions, try to seek out Latino candidates to run for prominent state offices," Hanley said. "That's difficult within the Democratic Party because you have a variety of groups and everyone is jockeying for position."

Hanley said the surge of Latino voters is not something Republicans can take for granted.

"It's not just upwards forever with the Republican Party," Hanley said. "They also have to be conscious of the economy and deliver to the Latino population in places like Osceola County to be successful."

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