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A Washington Post/Ipsos poll released Friday found Hispanic voters still favor Democrats overall, but the gap between the two parties has narrowed since 2018, while significant differences remain among Hispanic and Latino voters based on factors such as age and religion.

From doing this for 32 years, Ive never seen more races in play to control Congress and the Senate where Latinos now have a large population that will over-index the outcome, said Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, who frequently coordinates with firms to create Latino-oriented advertising. The decision to make a Spanish-language ad is now being driven by the concentration of our population and some of the most important and critical races.

Spanish-language advertising still accounts for a tiny share of overall political spending on TV and radio around 2.5 percent overall for Democrats and 1 percent for Republicans since the start of 2021, AdImpact data show.

Since Labor Day, candidates and outside groups have released Spanish-language TV or radio ads in more than two dozen House districts along with each of the most competitive Senate races.

The key topics are familiar: Inflation, jobs and the economy have consistently polled as some of the top issues that Latinos care about, even as newer topics like gun control and abortion have entered the fray in recent months. Democrats Spanish-language ads most frequently hammer on jobs and the economy followed by abortion, while crime is the most common topic from Republicans.

The themes are often similar across languages in a given campaign. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) has run ads on the issue of abortion in both English and Spanish, releasing a Spanish-language spot emphasizing the risk to women with pregnancy complications and victims of sexual assault and an English-language one that features a female doctor saying women need to be able to make their own decisions.

Two September ads from Sen. Mark Kellys (D-Ariz.) campaign show the nuances of making similar ads targeted across demographics. Both focus on quotes from Republican Blake Masters, framed around the idea that the candidates words matter. But the English version shows clips of Masters bashing U.S. military leadership, denying womens pay inequities and proposing privatizing Social Security, while the Spanish version highlights and translates his comments criticizing legal immigration and paths to citizenship.

Most Spanish Senate ads airing since Labor Day have been unique, meaning they were not dubbed from an existing English spot. But on the House side, more than two-thirds were originally in English and dubbed with a direct Spanish counterpart.

Most House broadcast ads in Spanish also started airing later in the year, while some Senate campaigns have been broadcasting bilingual ads since the spring.

Senate candidates and committees have more resources to spend and have been working with more Latino senior operatives, Latino consultants told POLITICO, while more white-majority firms are involved in the smaller races seeing more dubbing of English ads.

The one-size-fits-all approach some campaigns use to dub their English ads wont work across states with different Latino subcultures, from subject matter to regional dialects of choice, they added.

You can increase the spending and you can increase the outreach, but if the message is not resonating with folks thats not the correct messenger, said Gabriela Cid, a Spanish language messaging adviser at Equis Research, a progressive Latino-focused firm. Its important to involve people that understand the Latino community, people that can speak Spanish and can cater to our people.

And Rocha added that the more carefully planned Spanish-language advertising in several states is helping candidates up and down the Democratic ticket.

In Nevada and Pennsylvania, Democratic congressional candidates are doing better there with Latinos because the Senate is carrying the water, Rocha said. In states like Texas, New Mexico or California where theres not a Senate race, and theres not been a ton of statewide Spanish TV, you see the congressional candidates lagging because theres been no communication to the community.

The lack of broad, consistent Spanish advertising may have an effect on Spanish-dominant voters, though they make up less than a fifth of the wider Hispanic electorate.

Almost 40 percent of Latinos cant say which party cares more about them, according to a September recommendations report from Equis and that effect is more pronounced among Spanish-dominant speakers. Slightly lower proportions are still undecided on which candidate theyll support in Pennsylvania, Texas and North Carolina, the report found.

Spanish-dominant voters have also expressed less motivation to cast a ballot than English-dominant ones, though they are still more likely to support Democratic candidates, according to one UnidosUS July poll. The smaller Spanish-dominant portion of the Latino electorate still makes up a noteworthy percentage in states where both Republicans and Democrats aim to gain ground, like Arizona and Texas. And engaging Spanish-dominant voters means looping in people eager to be involved in the democratic process, Cid said.

Democrats have generally outspent Republicans on Spanish-language media in past election cycles, although Republicans made gains in some areas led by South Florida and South Texas. While a majority of Latino voters still favor Democrats in 2020 and in recent polling, the movement was enough to convince some Republican groups that had not previously invested in Hispanic outreach to do so for the first time.

Club for Growth Action launched a major Spanish-language ad buy in Nevada last week, targeting Cortez Masto the countrys first Latina senator on the issue of crime, echoing similar attacks from other Republican groups both in Nevada and other major Senate races. The incumbent Democrat praised radicals associated with defund the police, the ad notes in Spanish, with the phrase defund the police still in English. The group plans to address inflation in a second Spanish-language ad, Club for Growth president David McIntosh told POLITICO, and will spend a total of around $2.5 million by Election Day.

It was the super PACs first Spanish-language ad buy. Club for Growths 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm first ran ads in Spanish earlier this year focused on the Supreme Court, criticizing Bidens promise to nominate a Black woman to the highest judgeship, highlighting qualified Hispanic judges and accusing the president of radical racial politics.

I looked at the last election and the Supreme Court nomination that Biden made. Democrats basically sent a signal to Latinos that they were a stepchild in the Democratic coalition and that Biden was only going to promote Black people into office, McIntosh said. That gave me the idea of, Lets check and see if Latino voters are open to moving into the Republican coalition.

Even with the PACs large buy, Democrats still have a spending advantage on Spanish-language media in Nevada, having spent nearly $8 million on the Senate race there since the start of this year compared to $1.7 million for Republicans. Democrats have similarly put forward more resources in other races, including spending more than $200,000 on Spanish-language radio ads in Pennsylvania to boost John Fetterman.

The exception: Florida, where Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has far outspent his Democratic challenger Val Demings on Spanish-language media.

Though efforts across the country this year have been stronger and earlier than previous cycles, Equis Researchs Cid said, only the results will show whether Spanish-language advertising has paid off with Latino voters.

I do think there is always going to be a need to do more, and its not enough yet, she said. This can be a learning lesson for the next cycle We wont know until Election Day if those efforts manifest in a way that well be happy with.

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Republicans looking for gains with Latinos have lots of catching up to do on TV - POLITICO

Republicans are telling three lies they hope will swing the midterms. They involve crime, inflation, and taxes. Heres what Republicans are claiming, followed by the facts.

This is pure rubbish. Rising crime rates are due to the proliferation of guns, which Republicans refuse to control.

Here are the facts:

While violent crime rose 28% from 2019 to 2020, gun homicides rose 35%. States that have weakened gun laws have seen gun crime surge. Clearly, a major driver of the national increase in violence is the easy availability of guns.

The violence cant be explained by any of the Republican talking points about soft-on-crime Democrats.

Lack of police funding? Baloney. Democratic-run major cities spend 38% more on policing per person than Republican-run cities, and 80% of the largest cities increased police funding from 2019 to 2022.

Criminal justice reforms? Wrong. Data shows that wherever bail reforms have been implemented, re-arrest rates remain stable. Data from major cities shows no connection between the policies of progressive prosecutors and changes in crime rates.

Research has repeatedly shown that crime is rising faster in Republican, Trump-supporting states. The thinktank Third Way found that in 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Trump than in those won by Joe Biden.

Lets be clear: its been Republican policies that have made it easier for people to get and carry guns. Republicans are lying about the real cause of rising crime to protect their patrons gun manufacturers.

Baloney. The major cause of the current inflation is the global post-pandemic shortage of all sorts of things, coupled with Putins war in Ukraine and Chinas lockdowns.

The major domestic cause of the current inflation is big corporations that have been taking advantage of inflation by raising their prices higher than their increasing costs.

Here are the facts:

Inflation cant be explained by any of the Republican talking points.

Bidens spending? Rubbish again. That cant be causing our current inflation because inflation has broken out everywhere around the world, often at much higher rates than in the US.

Besides, heavy spending by the US government began in 2020, before the Biden administration, in order to protect Americans and the economy from the ravages of Covid-19 and it was necessary.

American workers getting wage increases? Wages cant be pushing inflation because wages have been increasing at a slower pace than prices leaving most workers worse off.

The biggest domestic culprits are big corporations using inflation as an excuse to raise prices above their own cost increases, resulting in near-record profits.

US corporate profits are at the highest margins since 1950 while consumers are paying through the nose.

Lets be clear: the biggest domestic cause of inflation is corporate power. Republicans are lying about this to protect their big corporate patrons.

Nonsense. The IRS wont be going after the middle class. It will be going after ultra-wealthy tax cheats.

Here are the facts:

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in July, provides funding to begin to get IRS staffing back to what it was before 2010, after which Republicans diminished staff by roughly 30%, despite increases since then in the number of Americans filing tax returns.

The extra staff are needed to boost efforts against high-end tax evasion which is more difficult to root out, because the ultra-wealthy hire squads of accountants and tax attorneys to hide their taxable incomes.

The treasury department and the IRS have made it clear that audit rates for households earning $400,000 or under will remain the same.

Lets be clear: the IRS needs extra resources to go after rich tax cheats. Republicans are lying about what the IRS will do with the new funding to protect their ultra-wealthy patrons.

None of these three lies is as brazen and damaging as Trumps big lie. But theyre all being used by Republican candidates in these last weeks before the midterms.

Know the truth and share it.

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Republicans are trying to win by spreading three false talking points. Heres the truth - The Guardian US

Most recently, the governors chief of staff helped Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) navigate the University of Florida presidential selection process, ultimately assisting the senator in becoming the sole finalist to lead the states flagship university, a move that caused hundreds of University of Florida students this week to protest.

DeSantis over the summer also appointed a top GOP legislative ally, state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, as Floridas chancellor for higher education a position from which he will wield enormous power over the states 12 public universities.

They want to take over higher education, and this is one way to do that, Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida union, said of Sasses selection as a finalist to lead the states flagship university. Gothard is a faculty member at Florida Atlantic University.

Conservatives in recent years developed an antagonistic relationship with academia, viewing college campuses as proving grounds for progressivism. And, fueled by the populist movement that elected Donald Trump, many Republicans have declared war on elitism and used higher education as a symbol of what theyre fighting.

But DeSantis, considered a leading contender for president in 2024, seems to be taking the notion a step further. The governor and GOP state lawmakers are expanding Republican efforts to reshape K-12 education in America, an undertaking that DeSantis has made a key pillar of his agenda.

The governor has pushed legislation that would allow parents to sue schools if they teach critical race theory in classrooms, prohibit teachers from leading classroom discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation for young students and reject math books that contain elements focused on race- and social-emotional learning.

Many of these GOP-backed laws drew condemnation from Democrats and teachers unions, who accuse Republicans of politicizing childrens education. But they are also proving popular among conservatives and in particular many parents that have grown frustrated by their local education systems.

Some of DeSantis higher education moves have also sparked a backlash, including Sasses pick as a finalist to lead the University of Florida. His selection was aided by a new law that shields university presidential searches from Floridas public records law, ending a tradition of open searches for the coveted and pivotal roles. The change in law was made possible by Floridas Republican majority in the Legislature, but several Democrats also supported it since it needed a supermajority to pass.

The new law, which Democrats and union leaders are criticizing, makes private all personal identifying information classified for candidates seeking college or university president posts. Names, however, must be unmasked either 21 days before a final selection is made or when a finalist group emerges.

Policymakers credit the new law with aiding UF gather a dozen highly qualified diverse candidates, including nine sitting presidents at major research universities and seven AAU universities, in its search.

We would have never gotten a sitting U.S. senator or multiple sitting presidents at universities to apply without the search exemption, said Rodrigues, the new higher education chancellor, who for years led efforts to pass the legislation. I think its accomplished its goal.

Faculty, students and Democrats, however, are raising questions about the selection process and want university officials to release the names of other top finalists, something the school is not bound to do.

Every student frustrated with the way UFs presidential finalist was chosen should understand that this unfolded exactly by design, Democratic state Sen. Lori Berman, who opposed the legislation, tweeted Monday. Florida Republicans passed a law to drape the search process in secrecy, giving you, the student body, less ability to weigh in and speak out.

The legislation clearing the way for Sasses pick was one of several bills that ushered in changes to Floridas higher education system in 2022.

Florida colleges and universities are searching for new accreditors in light of a state law passed by the Legislature this year that requires schools to find a new accreditation board by their next cycle.

Accreditation agencies generally ensure higher education institutions meet standards of quality. Florida Republicans, led by DeSantis, argue that they have too much authority over the states schools.

Floridas new law requiring the state to find a new accrediting agency was spurred partly by fights between higher education leaders and lawmakers and Floridas longstanding accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACS.

Those conflicts included SACS opening an investigation into the University of Florida after the school blocked three professors from testifying as expert witnesses in a federal lawsuit challenging a new law that places restrictions on mail-in ballots and drop boxes. The GOP-backed Legislature approved the voting law at DeSantis request.

Conservatives across the country, like the National Association of Scholars, praised Florida for its effort to reform such a vital and woefully broken component of higher education. They claim that accreditors are abusing their power by imposing political views and interfering with university governance.

Florida is also facing several legal challenges to one landmark piece of legislation requested by DeSantis, the Stop-WOKE Act, which targets how lessons surrounding race are taught in classrooms and the workplace. In one of the lawsuits, conservative free speech group FIRE argues that the law makes professors unsure about which lessons are government-approved or could result in punishment, including termination.

The new law, according to FIRE and other critics, constrains the ability of professors to play devils advocate and forbids them from advancing viewpoints even for the sake of Socratic discussion. And aside from race, faculty members are concerned about even broaching other topics like gender out of fear they could ultimately lose their jobs.

Its having a really far-reaching effect on the stifling of speech from what I hear from the colleagues who are consulting with me, said Robert Cassanello, a professor at the University of Central Florida who teaches classes on the civil rights movement, emancipation and the Reconstruction era and is a plaintiff in one lawsuit.

Lawmakers and state higher education officials, however, contend that the law doesnt outlaw any specific curriculum.

Its very clear what the act prohibits you cant place guilt on individuals for actions committed by others or by prior generations, Rodrigues, the new higher education chancellor, said. I would submit we should not have anyone teaching that one race is superior to another and be paid by taxpayers for that.

Another new state law approved by Floridas GOP-led Legislature in 2021 requires all state universities and colleges to survey students, faculty and staff annually about the intellectual freedom in schools. The voluntary questionnaire is believed to be the largest-scale campus survey in the nation.

The law was approved by Florida Republican leaders who were worried that schools are biased against conservatives. It has already drawn a legal challenge.

One recent report also shows that the DeSantis administration had even bigger plans for higher education this year, ideas that were left on the cutting room floor and could emerge in 2023.

Draft legislation obtained by independent journalist Jason Garcia this year shows that DeSantis sought to centralize more power in boards run by the governors political appointees and make universities more dependent on money controlled by lawmakers in Tallahassee. The proposal aimed to grant the 17-member board that governs the states university system greater power to launch investigations of school presidents, veto school budgets and fire university employees.

Florida in 2022 did, however, pass legislation allowing the state to adopt rules requiring tenured faculty to take part in a comprehensive review every five years.

Faculty at the University of Florida broached the issue with Sasse on Monday when the senator visited the campus, asking how he would protect tenure while noting that he ended it during his stint as president of Midland University, a Lutheran school in Nebraska.

Sasse said he would be a zealous defender of tenure at the university, outlining that it is necessary for a major research school like the University of Florida that differs from Midland, which has a fraction of the Florida institutions more than 55,000 students.

But qualms about potential tenure tweaks remain a top issue among faculty throughout Florida as they await forthcoming rules from university system leaders.

A draft of proposed system tenure rules indicated that reviews must consider any biased teaching or indoctrination constituting discrimination under Florida law by the professors, along with history of professional conduct and unapproved absences. Its unclear, though, if these policies will be included in the final cut of the tenure rule. The Board of Governors canceled its September and October meetings and convenes next on Nov. 9.

Gothard said lawmakers in Florida are relying on a cartoonish representation of what is happening in higher education to make policy moves.

He pointed to the extremely low response rate to the political diversity survey offered to students and faculty throughout the system as evidence that the issues brought up at the statehouse arent as prevalent on campuses.

Floridas students deserve the best education possible, and they deserve better than to be tinkered with, interfered with and harmed by the actions of politicians, he added.

Gary Fineout contributed to this report.

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How DeSantis and Florida Republicans are reshaping higher education - POLITICO

FILE - Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker campaigns Sept. 7, 2021, in Emerson, Ga. (AP Photos/Bill Barrow, File) Bill Barrow/AP hide caption

FILE - Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker campaigns Sept. 7, 2021, in Emerson, Ga. (AP Photos/Bill Barrow, File)

The Republican party is not known for ethnic diversity, but this year, 22 Black candidates are running for Republican House seats. And for the first time, we could see two Black Republican senators serving simultaneously. The historically diverse lineup also includes Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans on Republican tickets for the midterms.

Some in the party are hopeful that Ronald Regan's vision of the party as an inclusive "Big Tent '' may be on the horizon. But those who study race and politics say that the GOP's poor record on race and outright racist remarks from high-profile Republicans - like recent comments by Senator Tommy Tuberville -continue to keep Black voters away - even those who consider themselves conservative.

Host Michel Martin talks to Theodore Johnson, a researcher, and writer whose work focuses on how race plays out in politics and policy.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam. It was edited by Jeanette Woods. Our executive producer is Natalie Winston.

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What Does a Record Number of Black Candidates Really Mean for Republicans? : Consider This from NPR - NPR

Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, on Friday discussed how the GOP has been reshaped in his father's image, and added that there is "no longer a Republican Party."

The younger Trump made the claim during an appearance on conservative news channel, Newsmax. The clip of Eric Trump's TV appearance was shared on Twitter by left-leaning pundit and former federal prosecutor, Ron Filipkowski, and has been viewed over 100,000 times as of Saturday afternoon.

"He's fundamentally changed the party," Eric Trump said about his father. "It's no longer the Republican Party, it's the Trump Party."

The claim is not a new one for the younger Trump, who has made similar comments in past interviews while discussing the present and future state of the Republican Party. During another Newsmax appearance in August, he said the same thing while discussing Representative Liz Cheney's primary defeat against Trump-endorsed GOP challenger, Harriet Hageman.

"There's no question. I mean, it's not even the Republican Party," Eric Trump said at the time. "I'd say it's actually the Trump party."

During his appearance in August, the former president's son also went into greater detail on his claim about the GOP, and said that his father's endorsements have "brought in a whole new party." Trump's endorsements this year have led to primary wins 92 percent of the time, according to Ballotpedia.

"My father has literally brought in a whole new party from the RINO [Republican in name only] class of the Republican Party," Eric Trump said. "He literally brought in a whole new party that stands for something totally different than the wider class of the Republican Party ever stood for. My father's really redefined what the party is, how the party speaks to its constituents and I think it's exactly why you have this overwhelming support in all of the people he's endorsed."

During his most recent appearance on Friday, Eric Trump also discussed the public hearings of the House select committee investigating last year's Capitol riot, saying that "not a single person cares about" them.

"Not a single person cares about the J6 hearings," he said. "The Republicans are absolutely going to steamroll the Democratic Party because they haven't accomplished anything in two years. This is all coordinated, it's all made up. It's all a diversion, a distraction."

Contrary to his claims, the select committee's hearings have appeared to draw significant interest, with the eight televised hearings from the summer averaging 13.1 million viewers, with the first hearing drawing in around 20 million. A PBS poll from July also found that 50 percent of respondents agreed that Trump should face charges for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, riot. However, only 28 percent believed he will actually be prosecuted.

Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump's press office and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for comment.

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Eric Trump Declares There Is 'No Longer' a Republican Party - Newsweek