By Andrew Hay and Jorge Garcia
Previous a pawn store and thrift retailer within the working-class part of Socorro, New Mexico, Jose Benavidez stood on the porch of his trailer and mentioned he voted for Donald Trump as a result of he had “nothing to lose.”
The 49-year-old automobile mechanic hopes that Trump can ease poverty and a fentanyl disaster in Socorro and its surrounding county of the identical identify, which this month backed a Republican presidential candidate for the primary time in 36 years.
“He mentioned I will have extra money in my pocket this time,” mentioned Benavidez, who’s at present unable to work and will get incapacity funds. He voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 earlier than switching to Trump, who defeated Democrat Kamala Harris within the Nov. 5 election.
It is a sentiment heard elsewhere in working-class neighborhoods of south Socorro, the place Trump made a few of his largest features within the county of 16,000 residents in comparison with his final run in 2020. Reuters spoke to just about two dozen voters, elected officers and group advocates within the southern New Mexico county round 40 miles (64 km) south of Albuquerque, the state’s largest metropolis.
Trump’s 3-point win in Socorro, which is 50% Hispanic and 15% Native American, after Biden took it by 7 factors in 2020, is emblematic of inroads the Republican made in counties with excessive poverty ranges and people with giant Hispanic or Native American populations, in response to Edison Analysis knowledge.
It was the one county in Democratic-controlled New Mexico, the state with the best proportion of residents who determine as Hispanic or Latino, to flip Republican on the presidential degree on this yr’s election.
Socorro was one among solely 10 counties in historically Democratic states which have voted Democratic since 2012 that Trump was in a position to win in 2024, Edison Analysis knowledge exhibits.
Harris gained New Mexico by 6 factors in 2024 after Biden took it by 11 factors in 2020, a outcome strategists say displays how Trump’s hardline method to migrants coming throughout the Mexican border and pledge to spice up the economic system has resonated with voters.
DISAFFECTED
Straddling the Rio Grande valley and the encompassing Chihuahuan desert and Magdalena mountains, Socorro county is house to New Mexico’s mining and expertise public college and the Very Massive Array astronomical radio observatory.
Chile farms line the irrigated valley the place the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge attracts fowl watchers from around the globe to see tens of 1000’s of sandhill cranes and different migratory wildfowl.
Socorro can also be amongst 11% of U.S. counties which were caught in excessive ranges of poverty for a minimum of three a long time, its inhabitants shrinking 5% since 2019 as residents sought work elsewhere, in response to U.S. Census knowledge. Its drug overdose dying fee is approaching twice the nationwide common and a couple of third of individuals reside in poverty.
Sitting in town’s foremost plaza, Democratic voter David Chavez mentioned the city of 8,200 by no means absolutely recovered from the companies and jobs it misplaced through the pandemic. Two grocery shops shut in recent times after a Walmart moved in.
“Individuals really feel disaffected,” mentioned Chavez, a brewer who says his pub and music venue, like most native companies in Socorro, is struggling economically.
LOW-HANGING FRUIT
Native Republican officers mentioned they tapped into voter resentment of Democrats they accuse of being out of contact with working-class priorities.
Gail Tripp, a Republican elected county treasurer within the Nov. 5 vote, mentioned folks she met whereas knocking on doorways had been primarily anxious about excessive grocery costs and migrants coming throughout the border.
“They don’t have the cash to feed their canines not to mention the entire household,” mentioned Tripp, who gained a seat beforehand held by a Democrat.
Republicans additionally flipped two Socorro County commissioner positions, two seats within the state Home of Representatives for the county and one state Senate seat for the world.
Socorro’s Democratic Mayor Ravi Bhasker, a physician and lodge proprietor in workplace for 34 straight years, didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Allan Sauter, treasurer for the Democratic Social gathering in Socorro County, blamed the celebration’s defeat regionally on nationwide leaders that he accused of listening to the rich “donor class” as a substitute of the “working class” on points starting from the economic system to supplying Israel with arms for its warfare in Gaza.
“Individuals really feel poor and so they do not feel like anybody cares,” mentioned Sauter. “Grocery costs and fentanyl are low-hanging fruit Republicans can level to.”
NEVER LIFTED UP
In a thrift retailer on California Avenue, the city’s foremost purchasing strip, elementary college aide Judy Evans mentioned she voted for Trump within the hope he might minimize her grocery invoice after it doubled within the final two years – reflecting the financial ache voters throughout the U.S. have felt after inflation peaked at 9.1% year-over-year in 2022, the best because the early Nineteen Eighties.
“We’re purchasing right here to economize,” mentioned the one mom of 5, as she checked out children’ socks priced at 25 cents.
Just a few blocks south, Jerry Perez stood outdoors his multi-generational adobe mud-brick house and pointed to a home that he mentioned burned down when fentanyl customers “nodded off.” Perez blames the drug disaster on fentanyl smuggling throughout what he calls a “huge open” U.S.-Mexico border, 160 miles to the south. Democrats have blamed Trump for the failure of a bipartisan invoice aimed toward bettering border safety and Biden earlier this yr enacted restrictions that diminished migrant crossings.
“For thus lengthy we’ve at all times voted a sure manner however we by no means see ourselves getting lifted up,” mentioned Perez, 35, an upholsterer who voted for Trump hoping he would generate jobs, crack down on fentanyl sellers and curb unlawful immigration.
On the city plaza, well being group SCOPE gives Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses, and gives recommendation to locals. One of many group’s employees, Veronica Espinoza, says voters simply “wish to ensure that the streets are secure.”
Native officers like County Supervisor Andrew Lotrich need assets to research fentanyl sellers and create jobs.
“It is ‘how will we get our small companies again into Socorro County?’ and ‘how will we entice extra entrepreneurs?'” mentioned Lotrich, wearing camouflage earlier than an elk hunt.
Again at his trailer, Benavidez known as Trump a “character” who might a minimum of make folks snigger. A convicted felon who has had run-ins with Socorro police, Benavidez mentioned he felt a kinship with Trump. A New York jury in Might discovered Trump responsible of falsifying enterprise information, making him the primary former U.S. president convicted of a felony.
“Like I mentioned, there’s nothing to lose,” mentioned Benavidez, who stapled his Trump flag to the porch after it was ripped down a few instances.
This text was produced by Reuters information company. It has not been edited by International South World.
