At Máximo Gómez Park in Little Havana — the Domino Park where Cuban Americans spend the afternoon over domino tiles and coffee — the routine broke last week: Miami police arrested a player mid-game after an argument with a city worker. According to NPR’s reporting, the incident immediately sparked fears of deportations and a shouting match over who is to blame for the high cost of living: Trump or Biden?
That park sits at the heart of Florida’s 27th district, a Miami-Dade district where more than 70% of voters are Latino. And what’s debated between games sums up the problem the Republican Party faces 15 days before the November 3 elections.
What changed
Rep. María Elvira Salazar — Republican, Cuban American, in her third term — filmed a television ad last month in front of the White House aimed directly at President Trump: she warned him he has “gone too far” with his immigration policy.
Her line, verbatim: “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
Trump’s response came via Truth Social: he shared a post in which another user calls her a “back stabber.”
Salazar told NPR she didn’t take it as an attack and that she later spoke directly with the president: “I told him, ‘this is what my people are feeling’… this is democracy, you tell the boss: ‘hey, this is what’s happening in my neck of the woods.'”
Who it affects and why it matters
South Florida’s Cuban Americans have been loyal Trump voters, but immigration raids have swept up relatives, friends and neighbors of many of them, and several Miami businesses lost workers and customers to deportations.
This isn’t new for her: Salazar has spent years pushing her “Dignity Act” bill, which seeks to block deportations of immigrants who are pillars of their communities — hospitality workers, construction and farm workers.
Her Democratic challenger is Eliott Rodriguez, also a former Cuban-rooted television journalist, who proposes overhauling the immigration judge system and restoring federal food assistance. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race “lean Republican.”
Eduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida International University, sums it up: voters’ number-one issue is the economy; number two is deportations.
The numbers: the Latino vote is drifting away
A national Equis Research poll published this month puts figures on the shift:
- Congressional vote intention among Latinos: 57% Democrat vs. 31% Republican. That’s a 26-point lead, the widest of the cycle (it was 22 in August).
- Among Hispanics who voted for Trump in 2024, support for Republican candidates fell from 86% (October 2025) to 76%; 13% would now back a Democrat and 11% are undecided.
- Trump’s net approval among Latino voters hit -35: just 30% view him favorably, 65% unfavorably.
- 52% say the economy and cost of living is the country’s most important issue; 73% disapprove of his handling of the economy and 76% of the cost of living.
(Poll: 1,800 registered Latino voters, September 23–October 2, margin of error ±2.3 points.)
The contrast with 2024 is stark: that year Trump cut Democrats’ advantage among Latino voters to just 3 points (down from 25 in 2020), per Pew Research Center as cited by NPR. Two years later, the honeymoon appears to be over.
What to do today, in order
- Make sure you’re registered to vote at vote.gov (available in Spanish; the direct link is in our registration guide).
- Check your state’s deadline to register and to vote early: November 3 elections guide.
- If you vote in Miami-Dade (Florida’s 27th district), learn about both candidates — Salazar (Republican) and Rodriguez (Democrat) — before November 3.
- See the full Latino-vote picture in this week’s Pew poll and in all the news.
Official sources
- NPR / WCMU — “With an ad aimed at Trump, this Republican exposed GOP angst about Latino voters” (October 18, 2026): https://www.wcmu.org/national-world-news/2026-10-18/with-an-ad-aimed-at-trump-this-republican-exposed-gop-angst-about-latino-voters
- Equis Research — “Memo: October 2026 National Poll”: https://www.weareequis.us/research/memo-october-2026-national-poll
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