GOP Senate candidate says Hispanic voters ‘blindsided’ by Democratic policies

A Republican Senate candidate in New Mexico is encouraging his fellow Latinos to leave the Democratic Party and vote Republican, claiming Hispanic voters were “blindsided” by leftist policies, including LGBT issues in schools.

Ben Luna, who is hoping to flip the seat currently held by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) red, told Fox News he believes Latinos are “being awakened” to just how different their values are to the policies being implemented by the current Democratic Party. Latinos have historically voted blue but have trended further to the right in recent elections.

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“The big reason is forcing trans ideologies and forcing it in schools. That is a deal-breaker for every parent, but especially for Latinos and Hispanics throughout the nation,” Luna said when asked why Latinos were abandoning Democrats. “Once you come in, and you have almost, in a sense, bridged the gap to violate the conscience of our children — once you do that, the only result we will ever live with is that you never have access to our children ever again.”

Luna said one area of focus for his campaign is Albuquerque, a Democratic stronghold. But Luna claimed that many in the city are unaware of what their party is actually supporting. When they find out, many voters start to “distance” themselves from the party, he said.

The Senate hopeful also argued that although many experts view New Mexico as a comfortably blue state, elections since the COVID-19 pandemic showed that a victory is within grasp for the Republican Party.

“Something very, very interesting that happened in 2022 is we lost a lot of state House seats by less than 100 votes, and that was because they shut down our economy,” Luna said. “[Democrats] stopped everything here. We had some of the worst Draconian policies and mandates being forced on New Mexicans.”

Luna also promised to focus on many principles that the country was founded on and lock down the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico.

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“I think the biggest issue is really our border … With Texas fortifying their borders and then Arizona doing their best as well, it makes us wide open, like a funnel,” Luna said. “If we don’t have borders, then we’re technically not a nation. And from seeing what happened to Israel by just only a thousand that came across their border, a lot of people are actually bracing themselves for something to happen in New Mexico and America.”

Luna is the only major candidate in the Republican Senate race so far, and will likely face Heinrich in November. The primary will be held on June 4, 2024, and the deadline to join the race is Feb. 6.