Chile on Sunday elected José Antonio Kast, a right-wing former lawmaker who ran a Trump-style campaign centered on restoring public order and tightening the country’s borders.
BREAKING:
— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) December 14, 2025
José Antonio Kast, the Right-Wing candidate, just won the Chilean Presidential election.
He is known as the "Trump" candidate in Chile.
Kast is promosing:
-Mass deportations.
-Sending military to high crime areas.
-Cutting government size.
-Putting "Chileans First." pic.twitter.com/BcvmIXlZ8u
Kast is a 59-year-old father who was born to a German family in Santiago. He spent 16 years in Chile's Congress before running for president in 2017, 2021, and then again this year, finally securing victory with 58 percent of the votes.
Kast, as President Trump did, has pledged mass deportations of undocumented migrants, expanded policing, and even the use of the military to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, arguing that rising homicides and cartel violence require extraordinary measures.
His opponent, Jeannette Jara, a former labor minister, ran on expanding social programs, boosting workers’ rights, and raising taxes on high earners to fund new public benefits. She also embraced a more permissive immigration stance and highlighted protections for women and LGBTQ+ Chileans.
"Here, no individual won, no party won, Chile won, and hope won," Kast said in his victory speech. "The hope of living without fear. That fear that torments families."
"When we tell an irregular migrant that they are breaking the law and must leave our country if they ever want the chance to return, we mean it … We must show great firmness against crime, organised crime, impunity and disorder."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the victory, saying: "Under his leadership, we are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration and revitalizing our commercial relationship."
While Chile has been considered one of the safest Latin American countries, in the past several years, its homicide rate has climbed dramatically as a result of transnational gangs and drug trafficking, making public security a top voter concern.
Kast’s victory, alongside Javier Milei’s continued political success in Argentina, signals a broader shift underway in Latin America, one that could reshape the region’s ideological balance and expand a new bloc of right-leaning allies across South America.
