Latino evangelicals praise Donald Trump as president-elect who respects Christians
At First Bilingual Christian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this Sunday, the congregation was praying, in both Spanish and English, for President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.
Whether you agree with the election results or not, a pastor told the congregation, the Bible says to pray for those who are in power.
But most people here do agree with those results. Latino voters moved toward Trump by double-digit margins, according to some exit polls , and that support is especially strong among Latino evangelicals.
One of the ministers, Edel Santana, voted for Trump, like many others in the congregation. He says members come from more than a dozen Spanish-speaking countries and from Puerto Rico, where he was born.
As for that now-infamous joke — where a comedian at a Trump rally referred to his home as a "floating island of garbage" — Santana says it was "disrespectful," but many Latinos have bigger concerns.
"They care more about the economics of their family than just one joke," Santana said.
Raul De La Cruz worries about the economy. He's an electrician, and he says his family is feeling the effects of inflation. Their grocery budget isn't going as far as it once did.
De La Cruz, who's in his mid-30s, immigrated from the Dominican Republic as a young child and later became a citizen. He says he didn't pay much attention to politics until the past couple of presidential election cycles.
"I didn't know about politics. I was told Republicans are racist; Democrats is where you gotta be," he said.
But De La Cruz says he often doesn't like what he hears from Democrats, and says the Republican Party, including Trump, has been speaking to his concerns as Christian.
Jonathan and Erika Vega, a couple in their 30s, agree.
"I don't know if he's a Christian or not, but I at least see that he respects the believers," Erika Vega explained.
Jonathan Vega, who grew up in a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx, says Trump shares his family values and opposition to abortion. When it comes to immigration, he also agrees with the president-elect.
"As far as the mass deportation question? I'm all for it because I think there's a method to it," Vega said.
Vega says his friends in New York have told him about problems in their community, including recent arrests of alleged gang members from countries including Venezuela.
"I think we need to for sure get rid of those people, and from there we have to make some tough decisions," Vega explained.
Erika Vega was born in Colombia and is a naturalized citizen. She says she feels for people who are undocumented and just trying to build better lives.
"It's a situation that is not easy," she says. "But it's also like, they're trying to protect their own country — I see it as my country now. It's hard, but sometimes there's things that you have to do."
Nilsa Alvarez, National Hispanic Director at the conservative Christian group the Faith & Freedom Coalition, says she's hopeful the Trump administration will focus on deporting people who've committed crimes.
"We're not worried at all, because we know who he's targeting," she said.
She says like many voters, Latinos were motivated this year by issues ranging from immigration to the economy to education.
"I've been in conversation with pastors and Hispanic voters in all the battleground states and there's an overlapping list of issues that I believe motivated record turnouts in this election," Alvarez explained.
The Faith & Freedom Coalition worked to mobilize millions of evangelical and conservative Catholic voters this election cycle — including many conservative Latinos.
For Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist and author of the book The Latino Century, Democrats were too focused on issues of identity, and failed to adequately address many Latinos' larger concerns about bread-and-butter issues.
"Overwhelmingly, Latinos don't view themselves as an aggrieved racial minority," Madrid said. "So the more they've doubled down on trying to speak to 'people of color,' the more they've lost Latino support."
Melissa Morales, founder and president of Somos Votantes, which works to engage and turn out Latino voters, says Democrats have work to do to understand the reasons behind the "economic and cultural divide that led some Latinos to Trump."
"I think this is a moment for reckoning, for self-reflection, and for figuring out what the path forward looks like," Morales said. "At the end of the day, if working people don't feel like their lives are getting materially better, then there's no conversation to be had on other issues."
Pastor Edel Santana handed out voter guides from Faith & Freedom before the election, which highlighted the candidates' positions on issues like abortion, a border wall, and "boys competing in girls' sports."
Santana says he's not beholden to any party - but Democrats will have to work harder to speak to conservative Latinos like him.
"I don't want to sound rude, but we are not their puppets and they are not our puppet masters," Santana said. "It's not about colors. It's about values. It's about principles."
