House

GOP reps say Trump shooting, Vance pick will boost Latino support

by Tara Suter - 07/16/24 4:38 PM ET

Reps. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) and María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that former President Trump’s pick of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate and the recent assassination attempt against Trump will boost Latino support for the GOP.

“I wonder, Congresswoman De La Cruz, in your opinion, if you think that JD Vance is going to help with Latino voters in your district?” Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro asked at a reception at the Republican National Convention hosted by Axios and Noticias Telemundo.

“I think that Senator Vance is an excellent choice, and I do believe that he will connect with voters and move, specifically, Hispanics towards the Republican party, but towards voting for President Trump,” De La Cruz said. “The reason why, is because, number one, Hispanics tend to have larger families, but we are also the demographic that has the youngest demographic.”

“So, we’re the minorities that have the youngest demographics in the nation, and let’s just be honest with it, with you and our viewers here, is that right now, the younger population, they don’t connect with [President] Biden, and one of ‘em has to do with age,” De La Cruz continued.

Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) arrives for a House Republican Conference meeting in the Longworth House Office Building on Friday, October 13, 2023 to discuss the next steps forward for selecting a Speaker of the House.

De La Cruz said she thinks Hispanics “will be connecting with President Trump this cycle.”

Vance, if he and Trump win the White House in the fall, would be a historically young vice president. He is currently 39, turning 40 in August.

Salazar said that the Ohio senator “is the American dream” and that “he was able to escape poverty in a very difficult rural area in Ohio.” She said that Hispanics “can look up to him and say, ‘Well, if he did it, we can too.’”

De La Cruz called the recent assassination attempt on Trump “political persecution” and said that “many Latinos” have “families” which “fled Latin America, because of political persecution.” She said watching that “happen to President Trump, in the United States of America, the greatest country on this planet,” would also result in Latino families voting for Republicans.