Hispanic Women Outvote Men in Texas

One of every five votes in Texas was cast by a Latina; Latino men constituted only 14 percent of those who voted.

The feminization of the Latino vote in Texas benefited Clinton. As in other segments of the electorate, Clinton's pull among women earned her 66 percent of
Latina votes, compared to the 58 percent she received among Latino men.

The surge in Latina voter participation in Texas was due to several factors, including the on-the-ground efforts of groups like the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project (SVREP), which launched a major nonpartisan campaign to reach thousands of Latina voters though traditional and non-traditional methods including barbecues, church meetings, phone banking, text-messaging and emails.

"It's clear that (Latina) women voters were a key base vote in the election," says Lydia Camarillo, SVREP's vice president who spearheaded their work in Texas. Asked why most Latinas voted for Clinton, El Paso native Camarillo points to the long history of the Clinton family in Texas as well as the possibility of making history by electing the country's first female president.

"They were voting for a woman," says Camarillo. "They felt a sense of history with her. The under-30 voters were going for Obama. I saw a lot of people with conflicts up until the very last minute. But, in the end, they seemed to be voting for the person that they knew the best."

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