North Carolina's Latino population is growing — but not its recent voter turnout
As Democrats look to flip the battleground state back into the presidential win column for the first time since 2008, Latinos will be a key factor — but organizers are finding it challenging.
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — When Josahandy Avila thinks about the 2024 presidential election, the word “excitement” does not come to mind.
As a first-generation Mexican American, her family is directly affected by state and federal immigration laws, and she’s concerned about reproductive rights. But at the presidential level, she’s still undecided — she is leaning toward President Joe Biden but is potentially open to a third-party ticket.
“I think that they’re just trying to give us what we want to hear,” she said of both Biden and Donald Trump. “Neither one of them are talking about issues that are very important to us. And it’s not only immigration, but it’s also education, health care — other things like the economy.”
As Democrats look to flip the battleground state of North Carolina back into the presidential win column for the first time since 2008, Latinos like Avila will be a key factor — but an increasingly tricky one.
The state’s Latino population has increased by 40% over the last decade — the largest increase of any other racial or ethnic group in the state. And Latinos make up more than 1.1 million residents — 290,000 of whom are registered voters — in a state that Trump won by less than 75,000 votes in 2020.
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