In Trump-leaning Yakima County, Latino voters express mixed feelings

Following a Catholic Mass at St. Joseph's in Yakima on Sunday, Maria Del Carmen was buckling her baby into the car seat.

She voted for the first time this year, for Kamala Harris. But she’s also hopeful about a new Trump term.

“Trump, well, he is a good president,” Del Carmen said in Spanish. “In his first time around, he did some good things for the community.”

Across conservative Eastern Washington, most counties voted for President-elect Donald Trump this year. That includes Yakima County, where 53% of the population is Latino, according to U.S. Census data for 2023. But in some pockets of the region with a higher percentage of Latino voters, Vice President Kamala Harris won.

Del Carmen said most of her friends told her they didn’t plan to vote for Trump.

“But who knows in the moment of being there having the opportunity to do it,” she said. “Maybe they changed their mind at the last moment.”

Yakima County residents who spoke with KUOW expressed mixed feelings and uncertainty about what Trump’s second presidency will bring. He campaigned heavily on promises to deport people who’ve entered the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas.

Del Carmen is a citizen now, but more than a decade ago, she was undocumented. She and her husband both have close friends and family without legal status and worry about mass deportations.

If that happens, this heavily agricultural county could see significant impacts. A survey published by the Texas-based National Center for Farmworker Health in 2022 estimates that one-third of farmworkers in Yakima County are undocumented.

Del Carmen’s husband, Andres Balthazar, is up for his citizenship soon. He’s excited to think that he could one day participate in what he considers a diverse society, but he’s still nervous about the next few years.

“I’m not against nor for Donald Trump — he’s who won the election,” Balthazar said in Spanish. “But sometimes it does scare me a little — his ways of thinking or in the way that he says things.”

Balthazar said many of the people he knows who are citizens didn’t vote. He also said many of his colleagues aren’t entirely aligned with Trump, but do see him as a good businessman — someone who might put more money in their pockets.

KUOW heard from several people that it’s hard to make ends meet in Yakima County — working overtime, extra jobs, and on weekends is common.

Manuel, who was shopping at a swap meet 20 miles away in Toppenish, didn’t vote this year but said he would have voted for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he hadn’t dropped out of the race. Trump has since nominated Kennedy to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Manuel, who agreed to speak with KUOW on the condition of not publishing his last name, said he can see how Trump appeals to some Latinos as a leader who just keeps fighting.

“He's been convicted, he's been impeached, he's had lawsuits, and they've been going after him, and yet, he's still there,” Manuel said. “And I think that you’ve got to give the man respect,” he said.

But Manuel also finds himself at odds with people who voted for Trump based on anti-immigrant or racist ideas.

“That doesn't sit well with me,” he said.

Yet, Manuel said he thinks concerns about mass deportations are overblown, adding that he believes people who have committed crimes would be most at risk.

Nearby at the swap meet, another man was closing down his clothing shop. He said he didn’t want to share his name because of his immigration status. When thinking about how Latino men collectively voted this election, he had critiques.

“Many look for the benefit of their own,” he said in Spanish. “They don’t look out for other people that don’t have the benefits.”

Many of the voters he knows had a hard time differentiating between Trump and Harris, he said. As long as people are good with their papers — meaning they’re not undocumented — they don't have much to worry about, he added.

“They, on the contrary, have something to gain,” he said, referencing promises Trump made on the campaign trail, such as eliminating taxes on overtime pay.

Some Yakima County residents said they expect a second Trump presidency to bring an unjust future, but they’re moving forward and focusing on their work, families, and keeping a low profile.