GEOFF BENNETT: As we have heard tonight, a major factor in last night's victories were the number of Latino voters who headed to the polls and supported Democrats.

AMNA NAWAZ: For perspective on this massive swing, we turn now to Maria Teresa Kumar.

She's CEO of Voto Latino.

That's an organization that helps register Hispanic and Latino voters.

Good to see you.

Thanks for being here.

MARIA TERESA KUMAR, Founder and Executive Director, Voto Latino: Thanks for having us.

AMNA NAWAZ: So Amy mentioned earlier, of course, that there was the shift we saw from 2024 to 2026.

We should also just say, to be clear, Latinos are not a monolith.

But how do you look at that and what's behind the people who backed Trump in '24 and went Democrat -- Democratic in '26?

MARIA TERESA KUMAR: So it's -- folks are absolutely right.

Latinos are not a monolith until you come for our families.

And that's basically what we saw last night.

It was a repudiation of the ICE raids that have been happening.

I can tell you that I can go around the country and there's not a Latino, whether they work in Wall Street or they work in the fields, that don't know someone that's been caught in the dragnet.

You marry that with the fact that financially they're not doing well; 36 percent of Latinas that we surveyed in April were skipping meals.

All of a sudden, you realize that there is an opportunity for the Democrats to have a real conversation with them that is not talking about who is and isn't an American.

What Amy was talking about, I think, is really important.

I think it's something that both the Republicans and the Democrats need to take note, is that the Latino vote, because they are so young -- they're about a generation-and-a-half younger than the rest of the American voter.

They are oftentimes considered very much independent, but the swingiest of swing voters because they don't have a history of voting even among their families.

And so they are very issue-driven.

And if you promise that you're going to basically provide for them to be able to actually stretch that dollar, then they will listen to you.

But at the same time, if you start criminalizing them, then you're going to see what happened last night.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to talk to you about Texas in particular, basically a 30-year grip by Republicans broken last night.

You have the first Latino governor in the state in Gina Hinojosa.

You have the Democrat, James Talarico, winning the Senate race there.

How do you look at Latino participation in those races?

And generationally also, what are the trends you're seeing in Texas?

MARIA TERESA KUMAR: So, Voto, I tell you, we started investing in Texas almost three cycles ago because we recognized that 54 percent of the kids in classrooms were young Latinos.

And when you go down to the Rio Grande Valley, it is one of the poorest zip codes of people who are incredibly resilient.

And when they flipped from left to right, it was because of the flood of immigrants coming across the border that was creating real chaos in their communities, and they were having a hard time stretching that dollar.

So they took a chance on Trump.

And what Trump did was overstep.

I spent a lot of time with in the Rio Grande Valley, and I was talking to folks that were -- that voted very heavily for Trump and said, look, I'm a builder.

It used to cost me $300 to do a square foot.

Now it cost me $630 for a square foot because they're deporting my men.

And because of the tariffs, we can't actually be able -- we can't actually try to figure out how to plan for our job, for the work that needs to happen.

But I do think that the headline is, is that young Latinos showed up.

And, again, when we talk about this idea of affordability versus immigration, for young Latinos, this is where we're going to see a generational shift.

For young Latinos, it was absolutely to protect their parents.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you look at this broader picture, this is the question we're asking again and again, do you feel like these votes were solely against President Trump?

Or was there something also going for Democrats here?

MARIA TERESA KUMAR: The candidate quality in Texas specifically was through the roof.

Gina Hinojosa is from the Valley.

Something that I -- when -- during the 2024 campaign that I often reminded the Harris campaign, neither Harris nor Biden went down to the border.

Vance and Trump were there all the time.

They did the retail politics so well this last week that their closing arguments were all along the Valley.

If you look at who swung the most, who in Texas, when you look at the map of all the blue, it was all the southern border of Texas.

And it proves the point.

This was a community that has been long overlooked, but once you recognize them and you gave them something to vote for, they came out in force.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what do you think Democrats have to do now?

They have two years to try to make good on some of the promises that they made.

What can they do?

What should they prioritize for these voters that they have won back to make sure they don't lose them again?

MARIA TERESA KUMAR: So, Amna, in August, we actually asked this very question, and we came up with a pothole agenda.

Latino voters are looking for accountability on ICE, they're demanding for a pathway to citizenship and for the Democrats to say that out loud, and they're trying to figure out economic relief.

Talk about SNAP benefits.

Talk about raising the minimum wage.

Talk about how you actually can identify their taxes, and, believe it or not, how do you actually create term limits for the Supreme Court?

That's all top of mind.

AMNA NAWAZ: Maria Teresa Kumar, CEO of Voto Latino, thank you so much for being here.

Always great to talk to you.

MARIA TERESA KUMAR: Thanks for the conversation.