Javier Villalobos, the mayor-elect of McAllen, Texas, explained on Saturday the changes that are taking place in his town, which is 85 percent Latino.
Speaking to Fox News’s Neil Cavuto, Villalobos said he believes Hispanic voters are “opening their eyes.”
As Cavuto pointed out, this is the same area Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in 2016 by 40 points, and which Biden also beat Trump by roughly 20 points in the 2020 election.
While Villalobos noted that it was a nonpartisan race, voters knew he was the former chairman of the Hidalgo County GOP.
“It’s amazing what happened here in South Texas,” Villalobos said about the election, which he narrowly won by about 220 votes. “I think generally the Hispanic community is very conservative, yet, traditionally, they voted Democrat. It’s amazing what happened this past election. I think our numbers, as far as conservative voters, were up by substantially. We finally, finally, have competition in South Texas. So, I think it’s going to open up the doors for a lot of people.”
As Guy pointed out in his coverage of the race, Villalobos’s victory provides further evidence that Republicans made big inroads with Hispanic voters in the last election, from border areas of Texas to South Florida.
"[A] lot of individuals, including older individuals that have forever voted Democrat are opening up their eyes, accepting different ideas, both social and economic," Villalobos said of the change. "And that’s amazing. We will have some, I always tell everybody, competition is good. It has been traditional Democrats of South Texas have been ignored a lot of the times, it won’t happen anymore. We expect next election, that we will have the same type of results. We have candidates now running for Congress, when a lot of times it was very difficult to field a candidate down here, especially local elections, I think things are going to be changing.”