Bernie Moreno’s victory in the Ohio Republican Senate primary Tuesday is just the latest example of how Latinos will be central players in Donald Trump’s 2024 election aspirations. And it’s simplistic to conclude that President Biden’s 2020 success with Latino voters will be replicated this cycle.
Exit polls confirmed that Trump’s endorsement of Moreno propelled him into a critical November contest against incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown that could determine control of the Senate. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Moreno has an origin story that is textbook American Dream material. In Trump’s worldview, immigrants might be “poisoning the blood” of America or are “not people,” but not all immigrants, and definitely not an immigrant like Moreno, who is always quick to point out how much he wanted to assimilate into his adoptive country.
The president’s campaign has become more vocal in making sure Latino voters remain in the blue column.
“I wanted to become a U.S. citizen really badly. That was something that was really important to me. Even though I thought it was kind of cool that I had a card that said I was an alien, I thought maybe I wanted to be a citizen, that would be better,” Moreno said Tuesday night during his victory speech, emphasizing earlier in his remarks that “he was a kid from South America” who thought he was “on a field trip” as a 5-year-old when his family arrived in South Florida from Colombia.
Moreno’s story and business success represent a familiar belief in U.S. Latino communities — that some immigrants from Latin America are better than other immigrants from Latin America. Trump echoed this sentiment in last year’s controversial interview with Univision anchor Enrique Acevedo. Citizenship, privilege and striving for acceptance by American society are appealing to the Bernie Morenos of the world, and there is enough support out there for someone like Trump to keep gaining with the estimated 17.5 million U.S….
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