The Tejada Family Grocery Store in Corona, Queens (Credit: Edward Cleaver)
The journey of Sammy Ravelo, 57, will resonate with many Hispanic voters.
Born in the Dominican Republic, he emigrated to the United States on a student visa. Following this, he claims to have spent several years living undocumented in New York City. A former registered Democrat, he ran for office twice, unsuccessfully. He crossed the divide in 2024, when he formed the Dominican-American Republican Club. President-elect Donald Trump’s arguments on the economy were critical to Ravelo. Higher prices are “really hurting Americans, and the Democrats are on vacation on this issue,” he said.
Historic inroads with Latino and Asian voters helped deliver Trump to the White House on Nov. 5. These groups were historically safe Democratic voting blocs, but things are quickly changing even in solidly blue New York.
Hector Tejada, 40, also switched allegiances, becoming a first-time Republican voter. He owns the Tejada Family Grocery store in Queens.
“The rent is the most important issue for our businesses,” Tejada said. “Every year our rent is up. I need that change. This is the key thing.”
His bodega is just a stone’s throw away from the 103 St-Corona Plaza station, in Queens Assembly District 35. In this neighborhood, which is dominated by Hispanic and Asian voters, there was a 34% swing towards President-elect Trump from four years earlier. While President Joe Biden obtained 77 percent of the vote in 2020, Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris ended up losing the district to Trump this year.
But it’s too early to tell if these voters will remain loyal to the Republican Party, with Trump unable to run again in 2028 due to term limits. To capitalize on this multi-ethnic coalition, Republicans will have to meaningfully address the overriding frustrations of their new voters. Otherwise, these advances could be threatened.
“Republicans are about economic freedom, God, and family,” said Wanda Arroyo, 57, Nassau County regional leader of the recently formed New York Republican Latino (NYRL) group. “Latinos used to see us as unclear on what our mission was, until President Trump came in. Republicans at large need to continue that platform.”
At a national level, Trump expanded his following in almost all demographics. According to the AP VoteCast survey, there was a 14% shift towards him among Latinos. Hispanic males broke evenly, having heavily favoured Biden last time around. Smaller but significant gains among young Black males further swung the scales towards the President-elect. AAPI Data, a UC Berkeley-based research project, identified a rightwards shift among Asian-Americans as well.
New voters, and their expectations of change, now place pressure on the Republicans. Dissatisfaction with the trajectory of the nation drove support for the GOP. This sentiment has prevailed across the world. Every governing party facing an election in a developed country had their vote share reduced in 2024.
“In country after country, the incumbent party has been battered. It doesn’t matter what the ideology is,” said Lakshya Jain, 27, CEO of political modeling company Split Ticket. He argues declaring a new era of identification is premature, as the Republicans will soon be assessed on the same challenges the Democrats were.
“There are only two parties, and the public gets frustrated. Then there’s backlash, and they vote for the other party,” Jain said.
Without Trump at the helm, these issues could be compounded. Whit Ayres, 74, is the president of the GOP polling firm North Star Opinion Research.
“There is no logical successor to Donald Trump. There is no one out there who has his magnetic appeal to those on the lower end of the economic ladder,” Ayres said.
In New York, the debate around immigration has been catalyzed by the arrival of more than 200,000 migrants since 2022, adding to the 672,000 undocumented immigrants that already resided in the city. As the Adams administration struggles to manage this influx, tensions within migrant groups have emerged. Despite Trump repeatedly endorsing mass deportations, he made advances with the same minority demographics that this policy may target.
Chhaya is a community organization representing South Asian and Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers. Its executive director, Annetta Seecharran, 56, attributed these strains within migrant communities down to a prolonged economic squeeze, rather than an ideological shift.
Pointing to pervasive disquiet, she warned, “When the pie is made so small, people start fighting each other.”
About the author(s)
Edward Cleaver is a British journalist, specialising in political and sporting issues in the city.