Latino voters in Georgia: Key players in the presidential election

Baltais director of solutions journalism and DEI initiatives for The Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization ofThe Fulcrum. He is publisher of the Latino News Network and a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.

The Fulcrum presents We the People, a series elevating the voices and visibility of the persons most affected by the decisions of elected officials. In this installment, we explore the motivations of over 36 million eligible Latino voters as they prepare to make their voices heard in November.

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As the 2024 presidential campaign nears the home stretch, all eyes are on six key battleground states, including Georgia. According to recent CNN polling, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump split likely voters almost evenly in the state. The Latino electorate can make the difference in Georgia, where every vote counts.

In recent years, Latino voters have emerged as a significant force in Georgia’s political landscape. With a growing population and increasing political engagement, Latino voters are shaping elections and influencing policy discussions across various issues.

Georgia's Latino population has grown substantially over the past two decades, reaching 1.1 million in 2020, making up 10.5 percent of the state's total population. Nury Castillo Crawford, an entrepreneur and educator from the suburbs of Atlanta, is one of them.

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“My father always made sure to be home [after work] to check on homework even though he didn’t know the language,” remembered Crawford. Education was paramount for the family, who immigrated to the U.S. from Peru in the 1980s.

While education was a building block for success, Crawford confronted barriers. “My [high school] counselor telling me people like me don’t go to college. That I should take typing [classes] in my senior year so that I can be a secretary,” she said.

Crawford attained a bachelor’s (on scholarship) and master’s degrees from Florida A&M University. From 2006 to 2018, she worked in various positions with Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, culminating in the director position. She was also executive director of the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin. Crawford’s work now focuses on advocacy in education, parental engagement and literacy.

Education and/or public school quality are among the 10 most critical issues that elected officials should address, according to a new poll focused on the Hispanic electorate in Georgia released by UnidosUS and BSP Research. Immigration and border security were also in the top five. Three hundred eligible Georgia Latino voters were surveyed as part of a nationwide poll of 3,000 eligible Hispanic, Latino voters.

“I found no connection in the definition of what an immigrant was in this country,” Crawford said about former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign narrative regarding newcomers to the United States.

It also inspired her to become an author.

“So, I felt compelled to tell the story of my family, my story of an immigrant,” she said. Crawford is the CEO and founder of 1010 Publishing, a bilingual, biliterate, bicultural publishing company.

In the 2020 election, Latino voters in Georgia leaned towards Democratic candidates, significantly impacting the outcome in key races. That trend continued into the 2021 runoff elections for the Senate, where high Latino turnout contributed to the victories of Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

According to UnidosUS and BSP Research, Trump is trailing Vice President Kamala Harris, 60 percent to 29 percent among Latino voters, with 11 percent undecided or supporting a third-party candidate.

“No candidate is perfect,” said Crawford. “You have to weigh the pros and cons with candidates, and for me, [I need] someone to at least understand the journey of the whole country versus just one group of individuals. We all live here, and we all deserve to be seen and respected.”

Latinos are expected to cast about 200,000 ballots in Georgia, making up about 4 percent of the vote, said BSP senior analyst Stephen Nuño-Perez, representing a 20 percent increase since 2016. When asked to identify the most important issues elected officials should address, 54 percent of voters mentioned inflation or the rising cost of living, 37 percent mentioned jobs or the economy, and 30 percent named housing or rent costs.

The economy resonates with Crawford. “Many people in my community are entrepreneurs. Latina women start some of the most small businesses. Having the support through federal grants, I think this is very important,” she said. New data funded by Bank of America found that U.S. Latina GDP grew 2.7 times the rate of non-Hispanics' GDP between 2010 and 2021. Today, the Latina gross domestic product is larger than the entire economy of the state of Florida.

In 2020, 20 percent of Latinos in Georgia voted for the first time. This year, 22 percent will be voting in their first presidential election. “Candidates should be redoubling their efforts to engage this decisive electorate and present concrete solutions to their top concerns,” said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, vice president of the UnidosUS Latino Vote Initiative.

The engagement of Latino voters in Georgia not only shapes the state's political landscape but also reflects broader trends in the national discourse on immigration, civil rights and social equity. As these voters continue to assert their presence and voice in the political arena, they will play a crucial role in the future of Georgia's democracy.

“I do believe in the power of the vote. Together, we will be able to do much more,” Crawford said about the presidential election. “Change might not come in my lifetime, but I am a believer of slow progress; still progress.”

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In the weeks leading to Election Day, The Fulcrum will continue to publish stories from across the country featuring the people who make up the powerful Latino electorate to better understand the hopes and concerns of an often misunderstood, diverse community.

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