Texas Republicans want to redraw their state's congressional districts to lock in their U.S. House majority by making a risky bet that Latino voters will stick with them.
GOP leaders in Washington and Austin are banking on five newly drawn congressional districts, which President Donald Trump would have won by double digits in last year's election, would remain Republican strongholds if approved by the state legislature, but voters themselves say they're not exactly party loyalists, reported the Washington Post.
“Am I going to say it’s just Republicans from now on? No,” said Yzeña Cuellar, a 48-year-old middle school science teacher who was raised as a Democrat.
Trump and other Republicans have made inroads along the southern border, where Cuellar lives, but she has been troubled by the president's immigration policies, which have led to the deportations of several of her students' parents, and one of them died by suicide after her parents were sent back to Mexico, but she remains open-minded about next year's midterm elections.
“I’m not going to be a shut door," she said. "I’m going to be open to both sides.”
Cuellar’s partner Rick Salinas also backed Trump last year but hasn't been happy about what he's seen so far.
“It was a question of trying something else — trying something new,” said Salinas, a 59-year-old defense attorney who's running in the nonpartisan race for mayor of Mission. “We voted for him because we want prosperity."
Texas-based GOP strategist Matt Brownfield argued that Republicans aren't betting specifically on Trump's electoral gains in the state, but instead said they had momentum on their side.
“The bet is that South Texas is in play,” Brownfield said.
But Salinas said voters in the Rio Grande Valley feel betrayed by Trump's immigration policies, saying they would gladly help round up and deport criminals, but they've seen hard-working people who've lived in the U.S. for years without trouble being ripped from their families and communities.
"It’s not helping anybody," Salinas said. "The price of construction just went up, and I don’t see a bunch of U.S. citizens lining up to take those jobs."
He's open to voting for Republicans in the future, but he believes a lot of voters would back Democrats next time.
“You’re counting on a Mexican American to vote Republican again? That’s a crazy-ass bet, bro,” Salinas said. “Because down here, what makes a difference is dollars and cents.”