Republicans need to recalibrate their policies in the coming months, argues U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, given that Hispanics and others who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 aren’t thrilled so far.
“I’m telling you that what happened with ICE during the last year, hurt the Republicans, all right? Hurt us with Hispanics. We made great games with Hispanics, and then we, because of the way that ICE was enforcing immigration, a lot of Hispanics say, ‘wait, wait, that’s not what I voted for, all right?’ And so I think that that’s a reflection right there,” the Republican from Miami-Dade said on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire” Friday.
The Congressman was asked about two high-profile election losses last week: In Senate District 14, Democrat Brian Nathan upset Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow, and in House District 87, Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Jon Maples, a candidate backed by Trump.
He said the margins were “close,” but as host Dasha Burns pointed out, the swings were big. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins won in that Senate district by nearly ten points, and former HD 87 Rep. Michael Caruso won by nearly 20 points.
“These are districts that we would normally carry rather easily. And we didn’t,” Giménez acknowledged, but said it’s an opportunity to “start working” and make changes.
“If in fact we get this war turned around, and if, in fact, we achieve our objectives, and gas prices start coming down, and the price of goods, you know, stabilizes or starts coming down, and then people feel the effect of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which they’re gonna get another 10%, at least, in refunds. Many Americans are gonna have a lot more money in their pocket. That’s gonna work in our favor. And also, we need to say, hey, in terms of immigration, we have done a course correction. Yes, we’re still going after the people we need to go after, and we’re still gonna keep that border closed. And if you do that, that’s a 95% issue, I think we can turn this around,” he predicted.
