Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist and their resident Latino voter guru, to ask where the Latino vote stands ahead of the midterms and why we’re still the last true swing voters.
They start with Gustavo’s column on the taco stand Karen, a Santa Clarita woman who went viral for berating taqueros and then felt abandoned by the conservatives she expected to defend her. From there, they look at Latino Trump voters with buyer’s remorse, from South Texas to the gas pump, and why Gustavo argues that shaming them is no way to win them back.
Then they rewind. Gustavo explains how Prop 187 in 1994 turned a generation of Latinos into Democrats while teaching Republicans that anti-immigrant politics work. He also breaks down how the Democrats’ “demographics as destiny” playbook, and the “professional Latinos” behind it, fumbled the vote, from Hillary’s “10 ways she’s like your abuelita” to Bernie’s rallies in Latino neighborhoods.
Then they go state by state: Texas, where a gerrymander built on a Latino shift to the right may be backfiring; Miami, where Rep. María Elvira Salazar is distancing herself from Trump; and California, from the governor’s race to the tight L.A. mayoral race between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, where Latino voters are split by generation.
Plus: why politicians keep showing up at lowrider shows, the time Gustavo took Steve Hilton to King Taco with his dad, and how much Spencer Pratt voters could matter in L.A.
And because this is De Los Podcast, they end with Gustavo’s prediction: we’re going to disappoint everyone.
Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.
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From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

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