Tomas Garcia and Maria Viesca-Garcia toasted the presidential win with an old fashioned and a martini inside the opulent, 64-story Trump International Hotel Las Vegas as the sun shone the day after a historic presidential election. Around the hotel bar, people donned “Make America Great Again” hats and one woman wore a red shirt with the numbers “45” and “47” printed above a flag. Garcia and his wife, from San Antonio, voted for Trump in 2016, again in 2020 and in this election.
“Why am I for Trump? Because I’m an American first of all,” said Garcia, 70, whose great-grandparents emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. Garcia grew up poor in San Antonio.
And for 40 years he poured his life savings into a retirement fund. “When Biden came into presidency I lost $80,000 of my investment, but that’s OK, I’m looking for rosier times,” he said. “I know that I’m going to do good with Trump.
” Trump’s economic populism and promises to “make America great again” have deeply resonated with some Latinos who turned sharply right on Tuesday amid concerns over inflation, the border and safety. They brushed off anti-immigrant language and backed him by 46%, compared with 2020 when he received 34% of their vote. In some of the most heavily Latino corners of the country voters came out roaring for Trump.
In Starr County, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, where 98% of the population is Latino and immigration is in their frontyard, Trump pulled in 58% of the vo.
