DENVER — The scene at a recent rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in Colorado was designed with a specific message in mind: Poster-sized photos of Hispanic men in orange jails loomed from the stage as speakers preceding Trump stoked fears of violent crime. they are associated with illegal immigration.

“These illegal aliens deserve one thing,” Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert shouted, to loud applause. “They deserve a one-way ticket home!” »

One glaring exception in the list was Gabe Evans, a Republican running in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. Evans said Democrats “opened our borders” but left no direct mention of immigration, bypassing simple applause.

As Evans attempts to win a district that is nearly 40 percent Latino and could play a crucial role in determining which party controls Congress, he balances the need to appear tough on immigration without slipping into language threatening.

Evans’ tiptoeing rhetoric — which came Sunday ahead of a rally at Madison Square Garden that was laced with racist rhetoric from several speakers supporting Trump — was matched by similar caution from Rep. Yadira Caraveo, the Democratic incumbent defending the seat. The 43-year-old pediatrician has taken a tougher stance on border security at a time when views on immigration are increasingly nuanced, including among Latinos.

The caution of the two candidates, both Hispanic, makes the 8th District something of a testing ground for efforts by both sides to attract Latino voters. In places like this, candidates walk between the pitfalls of fiery rhetoric and the perils of appearing lax on border security.

“In an electorate that in many other ways is very polarized, people have picked their corner and it’s all a game of thumbs,” said Carlos Odio, co-founder of the Latino polling group. American Equis. “There’s just a large portion of the Latino electorate that remains undecided. The risk would be not to compete to obtain it.

A nuanced call

Central to both candidates’ outreach is a recognition that Latino voters are not a monolith and cannot be dismissed as invariably blue votes. While polls have shown more support for Democrats overall, Trump has made gains among Hispanic voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of validated voter surveys conducted in 2016 and 2020.

The “why” of all this has sparked fervent debate among pundits and strategists, especially given the sometimes demeaning rhetoric used by Trump and some Republicans. If these arguments are ever settled, it won’t be until November 5.

What has crystallized this year is the urgency among Democrats to retain voters who have long helped them deliver victories, and the feeling among Republicans that there might be a real opportunity here.

This delicate drama played out vividly during a recent debate in the 8th District, when moderator Kyle Clark asked Evans, an Army veteran and former police officer, what he was thinking when “Trump says immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.

“I have always condemned any kind of racist statements,” said Evans, who was supported by Trump.

“Are you ready to say that Donald Trump’s statements are racist? » asked Clark.

“I have always condemned racist statements,” Evans reiterated.

When asked whether he supports Trump’s proposal to mass deport all illegal immigrants in the United States, including using the National Guard to do so, Evans once again dodged.

He gave more direct answers in an interview, rejecting the use of the National Guard to round up immigrants.

“I was in the National Guard,” he said. “No. There are so many different issues associated with this.

The debate moderator turned to Caraveo, citing her previous call for disengagement from border control agencies and asking if she would still vote in favor of the measure.

“My voters don’t believe it and so I would vote against it,” Caraveo said.

“Is this still your position?” » asked Clark.

“My job is to represent the 8th Congressional District,” Caraveo said with a sidestep.

In an interview, Caraveo gave another reason for his middle-of-the-road approach: “People are upset because they have been here for 30 or 40 years and they haven’t had the opportunity to legalize their status. And they think, you know, they see it as people lining up in front of them.

A new approach

Caraveo and Evans are clear that some Latino voters still need convincing.

“I think it was a very good, very important wake-up call to say, ‘You can’t just talk to us about immigration,'” said Caraveo, who narrowly beat Republican Barbara Kirkmeyer in 2022. “‘You can’t take us for granted as being a blue vote for you. You must include us in all decision-making processes.

When Evans appeared at a Hispanic forum in Denver recently, someone told him he was the first Republican to ever attend. “And I said, ‘That’s a shame,’ because that’s the work we have to do.”

Evans says Latino voters have been given false hope.

“It’s this level of disconnect from the Democratic Party that is starting to drive this change in the Hispanic community,” he said. “They are failing to achieve American prosperity. They are not able to acquire generational wealth. They are not able to pass on a better quality of life to their children.”

Voters are listening

Caraveo’s balance plays well with Tanya Trujillo-Martinez, 47, a Democrat who says representing the district’s voters is “really her job, it’s not to go with her party.”

“For so long, we’ve heard the rhetoric of ‘We want to hear your voice, bring your voice to the table,’” said Trujillo-Martinez, who recently attended a Latino forum in Greeley. “But as soon as we got to the table, the amplifier was off.

Trump, she said, made a mistake by “not engaging Latinos with respect, but engaging them as a tool.” She took note, for example, when he recently referred to popular Latin singer Nicky Jam as “she.”

Evans’ rhetoric also appealed to some Latino voters.

Desiree Serna, 33, a Latina whose family has been in the United States for many generations, said at a voter registration picnic that she voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and that she would likely support him again in 2024 after years of primarily supporting Democrats. .

“It almost feels like a betrayal, but at the same time (Trump) knows what he wants and how he wants to do it,” Serna said.

And yet, there is an ambivalence there. She called Trump’s allegations, made without evidence, that Haitian immigrants in Ohio ate pets “very ignorant,” and does not support his proposal to illegally evict everyone in the United States – although she would like to see much stricter border security.

Serna sat with her husband, Juan Hernández, who remains undecided in the presidential race. He asked Evans about the increase in homelessness.

Evans linked the problem to drug use, which he linked to Democratic policies that he said were crippling Colorado police officers. “I couldn’t call immigration customs and say, ‘Come get your drug dealer.'”

“What if this person was white? asked Hernandez, a 32-year-old construction worker.

Evans pivoted slightly, saying Democratic policies hinder law enforcement’s ability to stop crime, regardless of immigration status.

Hernandez nodded. Evans, he said, would get his vote.