Republicans make gains in the most Hispanic state in the country: "We will surpass the Democrats"

One of the keys to Donald Trump's victory in 2024 was Hispanic voters. Those who were once a key part of the supposedly "invincible" Obama Coalition turned out in favor of the Republican ticket in historic numbers. This trend is replicated in the nation's most Hispanic state, New Mexico, where the local Republican Party is making significant gains in voter registration.

New Mexico has been a strongly Democratic-leaning state for years. The superiority is reflected both in membership and at the polls. Of the last five presidential elections, all were won by Democratic candidates by at least six points. In addition, the last time the state elected a Republican senator was in 2002.

While the recent trend is more than encouraging for Republicans, the projection for the last few years is even more promising.

The numbers that give the Republican Party in New Mexico hope

These gains are due to voter registration, where the GOP has been rising exponentially. Since 2020, there have been 48,803 more Republicans registered than Democrats. Nearly half of this margin was achieved in 2024 alone, with the GOP managing to shrink the gap by 20,950 affiliates.

This was reflected at the polls, as Trump achieved the best result for a Republican since 2024. While in 2020 he lost to Joe Biden by more than eleven points, in November Harris beat him by six, the same as saying 55,411 votes.

She improved especially in counties with a high percentage of Hispanic voters, such as Mora, Guadalupe, Río Arriba, San Miguel, and Santa Fe, among others.

Excluding February and March, since that is when the parties conduct the purging of the rolls, Republicans affiliated more voters than Democrats in every month of the year.

"More and more voters are voting Republican"

To analyze these numbers, VOZ spoke with Leticia Muñoz, executive director of the New Mexico Republican Party.

"The Republican Party prides itself on registering voters as an everyday grassroots effort. We will outperform the Democrats. We will surpass the Democrats. Florida took 6 years, and North Carolina took 9. It's just a matter of time because the Democrats have no real leaders, no real solutions, and no real interest in helping the citizens of the United States," he said.

In November, Democrats had 146,063 more members than Republicans. In August of this year, it was down by 12,871, leaving it at 133,732. In other words, Republicans discounted in nine months nearly a quarter of the difference Harris pulled away from Trump.

"New Mexican citizens are waking up to the fact that Democrats have run New Mexico for the last 90 years and have been at the bottom of every list. People want a better future for their kids and grandkids, including better education, higher-paying jobs, safer communities, and more healthcare options," continued the local Republican Party executive director.

"So, we continue our efforts as we see more and more voters voting Republican regardless of their party affiliation as President Trump's policies benefit New Mexicans," she added.

On the role of Hispanics in this change of trend, Muñoz assured that education is one of the issues that moves this group the most.

"Millennial Hispanics are seeing that the Democratic Party their parents and grandparents were associated with is no longer the same party. These same millennial Hispanics are raising their families and want parental control in the school system. They do not agree with boys being allowed in girls' restrooms & sports. They don't agree with the schools not having to inform parents of students' gender choice," Muñoz said.