Democrats Recruit Popular Content Creators to Boost Latino Voter Turnout

The party's new strategy aims to better engage Latino voters after many shifted toward Republicans in 2024.

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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The Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus' political arm is launching a new initiative called 'RUIDO' (Spanish for 'noise') that recruits popular local social media influencers, including TikTok star Carlos Eduardo Espina, to help spread the party's messaging to Latino voters in Texas and potentially other competitive races. The strategy seeks to capitalize on the influencers' large online followings to better connect with Latino voters, especially younger ones, after many gravitated toward Republicans in the 2024 election.

Why it matters

Democrats are looking to regain ground with Latino voters, a crucial demographic, after suffering losses in the 2024 election. The party hopes that partnering with popular local influencers will allow them to more effectively reach and engage this voting bloc through the social media platforms they frequent.

The details

The RUIDO initiative is launching in the Houston area as early voting begins for Texas' statewide primary on March 3. It involves recruiting 10 local influencers, ranging from political commentators to content creators focused on food, travel, sports and local attractions, and providing them with stipends to support travel expenses for working with political campaigns. The strategy aims to capitalize on the influencers' large online followings, which range from a few thousand to around 100,000 followers, to spread the Democratic party's messaging in an 'organic' way.

  • The RUIDO initiative is launching as early voting begins for Texas' statewide primary on March 3, 2026.
  • The Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus' political arm developed the strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The players

Carlos Eduardo Espina

A progressive political influencer on TikTok with more than 14 million followers.

Rep. Linda Sanchez

A California Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' political action committee.

Carlos Castillo

One of the 10 Houston-area influencers recruited for the RUIDO network.

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What they’re saying

“I do think there's a lot of failures in the past Democratic Party, but I think initiatives like this one are pretty cool.”

— Carlos Eduardo Espina, TikTok Influencer (ksgf.com)

“The Trump campaign reached out to those nontraditional voices to amplify their message. We didn't anticipate that was going to be a way by which politics was disseminated. We've seen the contrary, that we do need to be in those spaces, as well.”

— Rep. Linda Sanchez, Chair, Congressional Hispanic Caucus PAC (ksgf.com)

“People are going to act more when they hear from a family member, when they hear from a friend. Just talking to people in an organic way, whether it's through get-ready-with-me videos and just slightly mentioning, 'Oh, also, by the way, the primaries are coming up in our state.'”

— Carlos Castillo, RUIDO Network Influencer (ksgf.com)

What’s next

The Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus' political arm plans to evaluate the success of the RUIDO initiative in Texas and decide whether to expand the strategy to other competitive primary and general election races where Latino candidates and voters could prove decisive.

The takeaway

Democrats are seeking to learn from the Republican party's success in engaging with social media influencers and non-traditional voices to reach Latino voters, a crucial demographic the party hopes to win back after losses in the 2024 election. The RUIDO initiative represents an acknowledgment that the party needs to adapt its outreach strategies to better connect with voters, especially younger ones, in the digital age.