Rethinking the midterm Latino vote

Is public media reading the room when it comes to November's elections?

Aug 14, 2026

Before the midterm election frenzy takes over, I wanted to have a real conversation with allies like you about how public media can best cover Latine voters.

I know I’ve written about this subject exhaustively. Also, I have talked with some of you who have found your coverage planning meetings tiresome. We hear the “Latino vote” reduced to just two buckets: immigration and cultural identity.

It’s a neat narrative. And it’s also completely outdated.

When you look at polling, you see Hispanic voters sweating the exact same stuff everyone else is: bills, and wondering if the government is capable of solving anything. Sounds obvious, right? But it apparently still needs to be yelled for those in the back.

Immigration will dominate the headlines. Yet, as you look closer, like me, you probably notice nuances. There is an important engagement reason to make such a distinction. When news coverage defaults to the caricature of a community, we see and feel it. Trust lives and dies here.

Here are three specific threads you should encourage everyone to pull.

The economy happens to all of us

The cost of living is shaping people’s politics, more and more.

That latest UnidosUS bipartisan poll showed inflation and bills are dominating the priority list for Hispanic voters. And that’s true across demos, from Gen Z to boomers.

I see major opportunities for public media, in part due to how badly financial news about Latinos usually gets framed. You have surely seen these stories about how Latine buying power rivals small European nations. Great bar trivia. What’s greater? Reflecting the genuine Latino voter panic of meeting basic needs.

Where I recognize a huge opening for local public media is in those personal Hispanic experiences. What does a rent hike do to a neighborhood? What does childcare truly cost in historically Latine zip codes? Those stories are infinitely more useful to your audience.

KQED recently did a great series connecting giant, abstract economic arguments to the pavement of a listener’s block. This kind of approach is worth emulating elsewhere.

Immigration isn’t a binary

A huge chunk of Hispanic voters want stricter border security. They also want a path to citizenship for undocumented neighbors who have been working here for years. They can hate the idea of aggressive ICE raids while still wanting a functional enforcement system. Pundits find these contradictions annoying.

I’m constantly amazed at how rarely the genuine complexity of Latino views on the border actually makes anyone’s broadcast. Hispanics can hold totally normal values like order and fairness, and not be racists who are happy to deny opportunities to others.

We don’t have to neatly resolve these conflicting community views or quarterback why someone feels a certain way. Life for most of us is a messy middle ground.

Does the government even work anymore?

This third one is the subtext of so many stories, and it’s the collapse of basic trust in government.

Research from groups like the Partnership for Public Service points to a long-term decline of faith in civic institutions. Voters now are genuinely questioning whether elected officials have the competence to improve daily life.

One solution? Explain the mechanics of why things are broken. Why is it so hard to build an affordable apartment complex? Who actually rubber-stamps city permits? Why does a bill pass Congress but nothing changes locally for three years?

While these are not necessarily Latino stories, we have the same questions others do, and our communities tend to be most impacted.

Priorities shift

As I wrote back in January, Latino voters aren’t a monolith. We in public media are best positioned to investigate such truths.

Is your organization’s reporting mirroring what’s keeping this community awake at night? Strong economic coverage and more nuanced immigration framing will help. I encourage you to start now though, before the midterm circus completely rolls into town. 🟢

Cafecito: stories to discuss ☕

Recognition. Texas Public Radio’s Ruben O. Garcia has been posthumously inducted into the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame. 😎 The longtime media leader passed away in February.
Pubmedia resilience. NPR spotlights ways public radio and television have weathered the federal funding rescission. Fury at Congress has been a driver. 😡
El Grito. Legacy advocacy group the League of United Latin American Citizens has launched a media venture. 🚀 The Columbia Journalism Review notes the initiative has been in discussion since last year, and is mostly staffed by recent college grads and students.
Fighting misinformation. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is offering pay for projects attacking Spanish-language misinformation, using the tool Verdad. 👁️
Viewpoints and journalists. Pew Research Center has fresh polling of younger media consumers. 👀More of them say it is okay for journalists to advocate for the communities they cover and to express their political views and religious beliefs on social media.

El radar: try this 📡

Point out Hispanic voting access. Connecticut Public has a great piece on how Latinos of different political persuasions are seeking to remind the public about the importance of voting. 👆🏽
- Also: Houston Public Media and CT Public look at how Latine voters are feeling about their choices among candidates. 🌤
Highlight potential abuses. Beyond the Border investigated the misuse of weapons during immigration protests. 🚓 This piece prompted me to wonder if public media is looking more closely at these matters in their regions and noting patterns.
Investigate disaster response in Spanish. OPB just covered how local groups are drawing attention to the lack of emergency information available in Spanish for residents. 🗯️
Check out wellness clubs. KABC provides a report on a Los Angeles wellness club that aspires to help Latino men with mental health. 🫴

Discussion about this post

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