Cerys Davies | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

More Latinos are considering voting for a third-party candidate in the upcoming presidential election, a new poll by Voto Latino finds.

According to the survey, a fifth of Latino voters are considering voting for a candidate other than President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump. The poll, conducted by Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, surveyed 2,000 Latino voters registered in swing states such as Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

When choosing between the two leading candidates, 59% picked Biden, a Democrat, and 39% selected Trump, a Republican. But when candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein were included in the question, the support for Biden saw a larger decline.

While Trump’s support dropped by 5 points, to 34%, Biden’s previous 59% dropped to 47%.

The civic engagement organization’s poll indicates that Latino voters aren’t turning away from the Democratic Party and moving toward the Republican Party, but rather that more of them are open to the idea of electing a third-party candidate.

In presidential elections, the Latino vote has typically gone to the Democratic candidate. In 2020, Biden received a majority with 59% of Latinos’ votes; in 2016, Hillary Clinton received 66%; and in 2012, Barack Obama received 71% of the Latino vote.

Of this year’s candidates from other parties, Kennedy, an independent, had the biggest share of likely Latino voters, with 12% of respondents saying they’d consider voting for him. The remainder of voters were split among West, a progressive independent, (3%); Green Party nominee Stein (2%); and “undecided” (1%).

“The challenge is that Latinos have a percentage leaning towards Kennedy, but they don’t know this Kennedy. They know the brand of Kennedy. They think that his family brings social justice and believes in equity,” said Diana Castaneda, vice president of communications at Voto Latino.

Of the Latino voters between the ages of 18 and 49 who told the poll they were considering a third-party candidate, 62% were women.

“That just speaks to not only the opportunity that both Biden and Harris have to talk about the issues that are bread and butter to the Latino community they care about,” María Teresa Kumar, co-founder and president of Voto Latino, said during a recent interview with MSNBC. “But also demonstrates the real frustration that the economy, while for many people is doing well, for folks at the bottom it is not.”

GOP political consultant Mike Madrid sees this interest in third-party candidates as an “emergence.”

“It’s getting more pronounced every year. A lot of it is simply a function of being anti-establishment,” he said. “They are anti-party and have a loss of faith and trust in both parties. They don’t see the parties representing their interest or solving their problem.”

According to Madrid, Latinos have “both a weaker partisan anchor and the strongest disaffiliation of the two parties,” which add to the belief among them that parties are not serving anybody’s interest but their own.

According to the poll, the top categories of issues for Latinos are inflation and the cost of living (52%), the economy and jobs (28%) and abortion rights (27%).

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©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Iain Marlow | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cast fresh doubt on the prospects that Israel and Hamas would agree to a cease-fire proposal put forward by the U.S., saying some of the terrorist group’s latest demands were unacceptable.

Blinken offered the downbeat assessment after meeting senior leaders in Qatar, who along with Egyptian officials have mediated indirect talks between the two sides in a bid to end the war, which began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7.

Hamas had responded to a proposal backed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, though it didn’t say publicly what changes it wants and Blinken declined to provide details.

“I’m not going to obviously characterize or describe what they’re looking for,” Blinken said. “All I can tell you, having gone over this with our colleagues, is that we believe that some of the requested changes are workable, and some are not.”

Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. would put any pressure on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after being asked repeatedly whether Israel should show more flexibility over a permanent cease-fire that Hamas has demanded. He made clear the blame lies with Hamas, which is labeled a terrorist group by the U.S., Canada, and the European Union.

“Israel accepted the proposal as it was, as it is — Hamas didn’t,” Blinken told reporters in Doha on Wednesday alongside Qatar’s leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. “The longer this goes on, the more people will suffer and it’s time for the haggling to stop and the cease-fire to start — it’s as simple as that.”

The U.S. has been unable to explain why Israel, which has said it won’t stop until Hamas is destroyed, would agree to a proposal that lets the group survive. Hamas, meanwhile, has made clear it wants Israel to withdraw from Gaza for good, something Netanyahu’s government has said is off the table.

The latest impasse underscored the challenges of Biden’s approach. He laid out a three-phase peace plan on May 31 that he said was backed by Israel, even though Israeli leaders themselves have been noncommittal about whether they approve all or part of it.

Calls to end the fighting have grown amid the scale of destruction in Gaza, including more than 37,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as Israel seeks to crush the terrorist group, which killed 1,200 and abducted 250 others in the October attack.

The first phase of the Biden-presented proposal calls for a cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza, while the second stage includes a permanent end to hostilities. Some of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack would be released in the initial phase, and the rest in phase two.

One person familiar with the talks said earlier that Hamas wants assurances that an automatic transition will take place from one phase of the agreement to another. The New York Times reported earlier Wednesday that Hamas wants firm timetables for a short-term truce and a permanent one, as well as a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

“This is an issue we’ve been struggling with for a very long time,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “How to ensure that we bridge the gap between those two fundamental differences, between what Hamas wants — as a permanent ceasefire — and what Israel wants — the hostages returned.”

When Blinken first heard that Hamas had submitted a response on Tuesday while in Amman, Jordan, he dispatched Counselor Derek Chollet and Assistant Secretary Barbara Leaf to meet with a senior Egyptian intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, who was also in the Jordanian capital, according to a senior State Department official who spoke to reporters traveling with Blinken in the Middle East.

They got the response, spoke about it with Kamel, and then brought it back to Blinken at his hotel, with all three of them discussing it until late in the evening, the official said.

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©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Daniela Altimari, Mary Ellen McIntire and Niels Lesniewski | CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

The House Republican Conference will get a new member soon after voters in an Ohio district filled a vacant seat Tuesday. In Maine, a former NASCAR driver will face a Democrat on the GOP’s target list. Republicans in South Carolina, meanwhile, backed an incumbent over a challenger in a marquee race, but an open seat is headed for a GOP runoff in two weeks. North Dakota also picked nominees for an open seat, while Republicans in Nevada chose challengers for targeted Democrats.

Here’s a rundown of those elections.

Ohio

Rulli to fill Johnson seat: Michael Rulli, a Republican state senator whose family name is on grocery stores, won a special election to the 6th District seat that has been vacant since Rep. Bill Johnson resigned in January.

Rulli had 52 percent to Democrat Michael Kripchak’s 48 percent when The Associated Press called the special election at 9:02 p.m. Eastern time. When he is sworn in, Republicans will hold 219 seats to Democrats’ 213.

Rulli won a close primary victory against a fellow state lawmaker in March in part because his state legislative district lined up with more of the House district. He said his focus will be on growing the local economy, including manufacturing and energy industries in eastern Ohio.

Maine

Ex-NASCAR driver laps opponent: State Rep. Austin Theriault, a former NASCAR driver backed by former President Donald Trump and national Republicans, won the nomination to take on Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in the 2nd District.

Theriault had 70 percent of the vote when the AP called the race at 8:52 p.m., defeating fellow state Rep. Mike Soboleski, a former actor in TV police dramas.

Theriault was the clear fundraising leader, taking in $1.2 million to Soboleski’s $117,000 as of May 22.

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Golden, who in 2018 flipped a district that backed Trump in 2016 and won reelection by 6 percentage points in 2020 when district voters again backed Trump, had raised $3.7 million through May 22. He had $2.4 million on hand to Theriault’s $581,000.

Golden has shown he’s a good fit for voters, but Republicans think Theriault, 30, will be a strong counter to the incumbent especially with new policy dynamics that could play out this year.

After a mass shooting in the district in 2023 left 18 people dead, Golden said he would support an assault weapons ban after previously opposing such proposals. Theriault has sought to go on offense on the issue, criticizing Golden for proposing a government gun registry.

Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the November race Lean Democratic.

North Dakota

Fedorchak wins nod to succeed Armstrong: Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak won the Republican primary to succeed Rep. Kelly Armstrong in the state’s at-large House seat.

Fedorchak had 46 percent of the vote when the AP called the race at 10:19 p.m. Eastern time. Former state Rep. Rick Becker had 29 percent in the five-candidate field. Trygve Hammer won the Democratic primary.

Armstrong won the Republican nomination for governor, and had 68 percent of the vote when the AP called the race at 9:21 p.m. He’ll face Merrill Piepkorn, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Both races in November are rated Solid Republican by Inside Elections.

South Carolina

Mace crushes rival: Rep. Nancy Mace, who battled with some ultraconservative members of the Republican conference but also voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, pushed back a primary challenge from fellow Republican Catherine Templeton.

Mace, who is seeking her third term, had 58 percent of the vote to Templeton’s 29 percent in a three-candidate race when The Associated Press called the race at 8:40 p.m.

Since coming to Congress in 2021, Mace has cultivated a reputation as a fiscally conservative but socially moderate Republican who craves the limelight.

Templeton, the former director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, had the backing of McCarthy. Mace was endorsed by Trump.

The race got expensive: Some outside groups have spent $5.3 million to help Templeton, while others spent $2.6 million to help Mace.

Templeton’s backers included $3.8 million from South Carolina Patriots PAC, a super PAC that reported most of its money coming from another super PAC that has not disclosed most of its donors. She also benefited from $652,000 spent by WFW PAC, which backs Republican women running for Congress.

Outside spending to support Mace included $1 million by Club for Growth Action and another $1.5 million by Win It Back PAC, a group whose top donors include Club for Growth Action.

Mace will face the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic primary, business executive Michael B. Moore, in November. Inside Elections rates the race Likely Republican.

GOP runoff in 3rd District: The Republican primary for an open seat held by retiring Rep. Jeff Duncan will be decided June 25 after none of the seven candidates got more than 50 percent of the vote.

Trump-endorsed pastor and motivational speaker Mark Burns and psychiatric nurse practitioner Sheri Biggs were the top two vote-getters, with 31 percent and 30 percent, respectively, when the AP called that the race would go to a runoff at 9:16 p.m.

Paint store manager Byron Best easily won the Democratic primary, with more than 60 percent of the vote when the AP called the race at 8:30 p.m.

The seat has been held since 2011 by Duncan, a Republican who routinely won with 70 percent of the vote. Duncan said in January he would not seek reelection. Inside Elections rates the November race as Solid Republican.

©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.