Conservative Latinos blasted Jen Psaki for referencing Spanish language "disinformation" just ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,' R., re-election victory Tuesday night.
A majority of Latino voters supported DeSantis in his resounding win over Democrat Charlie Crist. The Republican won 55% of the Puerto Rican vote, and 50% of all the other Latino voters in the state of Florida, according to NBC. He notably won the historically blue Miami-Dade County, which marked the first time in 20 years that the county chose a Republican for governor.
Psaki, the former White House press secretary turned MSNBC pundit, cautioned her Twitter followers to keep in mind that the "Latino vote is not the same everywhere" shortly before DeSantis and fellow Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio easily won their races.
"The Latino vote is not the same everywhere! There are huge generational differences and in Florida population of older voters (more likely Rs) much larger than younger. Socialism does not play there. And there is a massive disinformation problem in Spanish language media," Psaki tweeted.
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Former Univision anchor and Latino Media Network board member María Elena Salinas suggested the same during ABC News coverage, telling her fellow panelists that Miami is one of the "centers of disinformation," and the Florida GOP victory was "not indicative of the national Latino vote."
"We have to be careful not to read too much into this," she said. "This is just Florida."
MRC Latino Director Jorge Bonilla called their comments a multifunctional "trope" that the left often employs.
"The remarks," Bonilla told Fox News Digital, "show that what the left cannot have or control, they disparage. So, having lost significant chunks of the Hispanic vote over the past few years, they've gone to this old trope of Spanish language disinformation. It is a trusty trope, it is a reliable trope. It is a malleable trope."
Bonilla gave full credit to DeSantis for the win, saying he "engaged Hispanics in a respectful manner" on issues ranging from immigration to the economy.
"He didn't pander to the Hispanic community on immigration," Bonilla said. "But treated Hispanics as parents, as people with aspirations, with jobs. He didn't look at the Hispanic community as a monolith to be pandered to."
What Latino voters cared about, he said, was that their businesses needed to be kept open during COVID-19 lockdowns, or that their children's school curricula wasn't overly sexualized - two issues DeSantis honed in on during his campaign. The final vote, Bonilla said, was "a referendum" on the governor's handling of the economy and education, which "resonated" within the community.
Bonilla noted that there are regional and cultural differences within the Hispanic community, meaning that the way a candidate engages someone in Miami-Dade should not mirror how they engage those in New York, or south Texas, or California.
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"The Democrats convey tremendous ignorance when they blame ‘Spanish disinformation’ for their losses among Hispanics," Giancarlo Sopo, founder of Visto Media, told Fox News Digital. "This excuse might help them avoid confronting difficult truths in front of donors, but it is entirely inconsistent with the research data."
Sopo said recent data questioned the notion that "Spanish disinformation" is driving Hispanics to the GOP. In a WPA Intelligence/Visto Media national poll of 1,086 likely Hispanic voters taken October 4-7, respondents were asked if they have become more liberal or conservative in the past five years. Among Spanish news consumers, there was a net gain of 10 points to the left, Sopo said. Among English news consumers, there was a net gain of 5 points to the right. Overall, among all Hispanics, there was a 3-point rightward shift.
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Abraham Lopez, a civics teacher who formerly served as a New Jersey Hispanic & Faith Affairs director, suggested what the post-election headlines should have read on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow’s post #ElectionDay headlines should read, ‘Hispanics Shouted Libertad With Their Votes In Florida.’ And it was more than just Cuban Americans. Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, and Colombians went all in with @GovRonDeSantis and @marcorubio," he tweeted.
Some media figures, however, have begun to make note of the trend.
"The Latino vote has been so interesting," NBC News' Savannah Guthrie said on an Election Night panel. "We obviously have the results in from Florida, but Democrats cannot take the Latino vote for granted."
"I had a Democratic consultant say to me, ‘We gotta stop putting Latinos in a box and trying to treat them as African Americans,’" NBC's Chuck Todd later shared.
"Florida Republicans are doing something right," NBC's Tom Llamas said in his analysis of the gubernatorial vote, referencing how GOP candidates are getting out and "meeting" Hispanic voters.
"Stop trying to single them out, instead whatever your pitch at swing voters, pitch that to Latino voters… How we carve up the White vote in those different buckets, that’s how you – the Latino vote is no different," he added.
