Harris courts Latinos with health care-focused ads slamming Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign is ramping up its efforts to win over Latino voters across battleground states with a health care-focused ad blitz attacking former President Donald Trump, as recent polls show her advantage over him among these voters is significantly smaller than President Biden’s was in 2020. 

Starting Tuesday, Harris will have ads up arguing Trump would “rip health care away” from millions of Latinos, and in the process take money out of their pockets. 

Trump has said little about health care during the 2024 presidential campaign, however, as opposed to his run in 2016, when he regularly vowed to repeal Obamacare, the nation’s health care law. But numerous attempts by Congress to repeal it during his administration failed. In his debate with Harris, Trump suggested he might want to try again to push for a repeal but said if elected, he’d keep the program in place until something better emerged.

“It’s still never going to be great,” he said of Obamacare during the debate. “If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it. But until then I’d run it as good as it can be run.” Pressed on whether he had a plan to replace it, Trump replied, “I have concepts of a plan.”

Harris’ ad blitz is part of a $370 million investment in television and digital ads that will run until Election Day and are intended to reach voters in crucial states both in English and Spanish.   

The new ads include “Yamelisa,” which features a diabetic resident in Allentown, Pennsylvania, who describes her lifelong financial struggle to pay for insulin after she was diagnosed with diabetes at age 10. The ad credits Harris for capping the monthly cost of insulin at $35 and will target voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina. 

The second ad, “Stop Him,” targets Mexican-American voters in Nevada and Arizona and features a doctor who warns Latino voters that Trump intends to leave them uninsured because he plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Harris’ standing among Latinos, a key voting bloc in several battleground states, falls short of the traditional support for the Democratic presidential ticket.

A new NBC News poll shows Harris has a 54% support among Latinos, compared to 40% for Trump, but her advantage with this demographic is smaller than the Democratic presidential candidates in the last four presidential cycles. 

A recent New York Times/ Siena poll also shows Harris with an 8-point margin over Trump among Latinos in Arizona, 49% to 41%. But she’s trailing Mr. Biden’s 2020 performance with Latino voters — he won 61% of the Arizona Latino vote, compared to Trump’s 37%.

On the campaign trail, Harris made her pitch to Latinos as she campaigned in Las Vegas Sunday, ticking through her economic proposals and touting her record of helping middle-class Americans throughout her political career.  

“We must lower the cost of living,” she told the crowd in Nevada. “Because while our economy is doing well by many measures, prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high. You know it, and I know it, so I have a plan that includes lowering costs on everything from health care to groceries.”

Harris emphasizes her economic agenda on the trail and the Biden administration’s work for affordable health care access. But voters across battleground states who tell CBS News that economic issues are a primary concern at times seem dubious of the plans and proposals from both Trump and Harris. 

“As a young person, I’m not seeing a lot of decisions made for the younger generations,” said Stephanie Camerino, a college student in Nevada who says she’s having trouble paying for her education. “It’s hard, but I’m still seeing who I am going to vote for.”

“She’s been in power all this time,” said Carlos Gutierrez of Tucson, who says he won’t be voting this time around. “Nobody has done anything for our families. Empty promises.”

Harris has been relying heavily on surrogates to deliver her message to Latino voters, including her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who spoke to the Latino-packed city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in early September at a “Latinos con Harris-Walz” campaign event. There are some Latinos who are looking beyond political ideology as they consider their votes.

“I have voted Republican before,” said Jose Rosado, a resident from Allentown, Pennsylvania, who attended Emhoff’s event. “But in the current political situation, I think that we really need a candidate in the White House that is not just about conservative values versus liberal values, it’s about having values for the people in the country.”

On the campaign trail, it’s still common to find Latino voters in the seven battleground states likely to decide the election who are unwavering in their support for Harris because they fear a second Trump presidency.

“She would be able to help us in any situation,” Viera Lopez, a retired nurse from Nevada told CBS News. “She’s not for herself, she’s for the people.”