In a last-minute November surprise, Latino voters overwhelmingly came out in support of President Trump, effectively kicking to the curb a widely held belief that offensive comments made about Puerto Rico and immigrants during a New York Rally held by the Republican candidate would have them voting blue.

The number of Latino voters showing up for the polls and casting their ballots for Trump is considered one of the bigger takeaways from Election Day, with the Republican candidate gaining a staggering 25 percent increase among the voting bloc.

Trump gained support from 45 percent of all Latino voters across the country compared to 2020, when he only won 32 percent, and the showing may be the best for a GOP candidate since George W. Bush gained 44 percent in 2004, according to NBC News.

The gains were partly fueled by a shift among Latino men, who backed Trump over Vice President Harris by a margin of ten points. Factors that may have led to the change include Democratic outreach to the community coming too late in the campaign, and exit polls which found voters saying that inflation, the job market, and the cost of living were the most important issues of the day and not the identity politics favored by team blue.

“The main concern among Hispanic voters was the economy, much more than democracy, abortion rights or foreign policy,” Miami Herald opinion writer Andres Oppenheimer said in a recent column, citing a recent Pew Research Center Poll that found 85 percent of Latino voters said that the economy was their top concern. He adds that Trump had better outreach than his opponent.

“Trump did a much better job than Democrats in courting specific Hispanic groups, such as Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans in Florida,” Mr. Oppenheimer said.

“Harris did not spend much time, nor resources, in courting these constituencies, perhaps because Democrats had already concluded that they would vote for Trump,” he says.

President Trump made significant gains in places with large Latino populations, like Miami-Dade County and South Texas.

At Cameron County, at the southern tip of the Lone Star State’s Rio Grande Valley, Mr. Trump beat Ms. Harris with a margin of 52-47. President Biden won by 56 percent in the same county in the 2020 elections.

Starr County, also along the Texas Border, voted in favor of the Republican candidate for the first time in 120 years. Trump won the country with 57 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

“We are seeing tonight generational change in South Texas,” Senator Cruz said, addressing Latino voters, during his victory speech Tuesday night. “This decisive victory should shake the Democrat establishment to its core. Our Hispanic communities aren’t just leaving the Democrat Party — they’re coming home to conservative values they never left.”

In Florida, Trump received 53 percent of the Latino vote. At Osceola County, which is more than 56 percent Hispanic, with the largest subset being of Puerto Rican descent, he held a 1.5 percent margin, according to the Associated Press.