Tiny town sums up exactly why Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election
The vote in this small town reveals the shocking extent of Kamala Harris’ loss against Donald Trump – and it could change US politics forever.
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The last time a Republican candidate for president won in Starr County, voters made their way to polling places on election day via horse and cart.
It was 1892 and the small Texas community put their support behind incumbent Benjamin Harris, who ultimately lost to Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland.
Interestingly, Mr Cleveland was the first former president to be returned to office after a defeat – an electoral feat pulled off yesterday by Donald Trump.
History repeated in more ways than one in Starr County, sitting on the Rio Grande river at the border with Mexico, with voters breaking a near 130-year winning streak for the Democrats – the longest anywhere in the United States.
With counting virtually completed, Mr Trump received almost 58 per cent of the vote, dwarfing Kamala Harris’ 41.8 per cent.
In any other election year, the happenings in a small community of 65,900 people might not register much attention, but the historic flip is part of a surprising demographic shift.
Hispanic people comprise a whopping 57 per cent of eligible voters in Starr County. According to the last US Census, 98 per cent of locals are either Hispanic or Latino.
Back in 2016 when Mr Trump faced off against Hillary Clinton, she took Starr County with a mammoth 79 per cent of the vote.
Hispanic and Latino voters are traditionally seen as being far more likely to support a Democrat than a Republican, but political pundits are now wondering if those days are over.
As The Economist bluntly put it: “Democrats can no longer rely on the Hispanic vote.”
“In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Hispanic voters by a margin of 38 percentage points, according to exit polls,” its post-election analysis pointed out. “By 2020, Joe Biden’s margin had shrunk to 33 points.
“This year, early exit polling conducted by CNN suggests that Ms Harris’s margin of victory among Hispanic voters is just eight percentage points – a remarkable collapse, if right.”
Similarly, a Fox News exit poll indicated Mr Trump saw significant improvements in voter support among Latino voters since 2020 – up eight per cent among men and six per cent among women.
In analysis in the New York Post, the incoming president’s stance on border security and illegal immigration were credited with the lift.
Starr County is far from the only shock result, with a number of typically strong Democratic heartlands deserting Ms Harris at the end of the day.
Miami-Dade in Florida has long been staunchly blue, with voters there not backing a Republican candidate for president since the late 1980s.
But Mr Trump romped home with a stunning margin of 11 per cent, winning 55 per cent of the vote compared to Ms Harris’ 44 per cent.
Even New York City shifted to the right this election.
While Ms Harris took the Big Apple with a margin of 37 points, the result was much smaller than that of Joe Biden in 2020, who won by 54 points.
Even Hillary Clinton in 2016 swamped famed New Yorker Donald Trump by some 63 points.
New York remains “a deep blue city”, John Liu, a Democratic state senator representing Queens, told The New York Times.
But the party needs to seriously acknowledge the significance of the shift, Mr Liu told the newspaper.
“The mood changed.”
Hispanic and Latino voters comprise about 12 per cent of the total American electorate and 45 per cent voted Republican, exit polls indicate.
Down gender lines, male Latino voters backed Republicans more strongly at 54 per cent, which Forbes analyst Corein Carter said reflected “a growing trend of conservative support”
“According to various sources, it’s clear why some Latino men supported Trump in the 2024 election,” Carter wrote.
“For many, the economic promises he makes as a businessman speak to their goals for stability and growth. His tough stance on immigration also appeals to those who see stricter policies as a way to ensure fairness.
“Beyond that, some Latino men connect with Trump’s values on masculinity and tradition. For those feeling overlooked by Democratic policies, Trump’s platform seems like the alternative they’re looking for.”
Elsewhere, Democrats will be spend coming weeks and months reflecting on other shock losses in normally supportive parts of the country.
Take the Midwestern state of Minnesota, where the blue collar Carlton County backed Mr Trump, who won with a margin of three points.
That marks the first Republican victory there since 1928.
In Berlin, New Hampshire, 52.8 per cent of voters put their support behind Mr Biden in 2020, compared to Mr Trump’s result of 45.6 per cent.
This time around, Mr Trump scored 52 per cent while 48 per cent voted for Ms Harris.
In analysis for The Conversation, anthropologist Professor Alex Hinton from Rutgers University said many on the left “fail to understand who Trump voters are and how they vary”.
“Trump’s base cannot simply be dismissed as racist ‘deplorables’, as Hillary Clinton famously said in 2016, or as country bumpkins in red MAGA hats,” Professor Hinton wrote.
“Trump voters trend older, white, rural, religious and less educated. But they include other groups, including Latinos and male voters.
“Many people have thoughtful reasons for voting for Trump, even if their reasoning – as is also true for those on the left – is often inflamed by populist polarisers and media platforms.”
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