Could Música Mexicana Get Young Latinos to Vote?
When Los Tigres Del Norte took the stage at a Harris-Walz rally in Las Vegas just before Election Day, the band channeled the frustrations of many Latino voters, providing a compelling response to Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. The band played “Somos Más Americanos,” or “We Are More American,” on which they insist: “I’m not here to wage war on you, I’m a hard-working man.”
Over the last several months, numerous Latino political organizations — along with the Harris-Walz campaign — have sought to harness the cultural force of Mexican music to encourage voter participation. On Oct. 31, Kamala Harris hosted concert rallies in Nevada and Arizona, featuring performances by Mexican music giants Maná and Los Tigres, aimed at energizing voters of Mexican descent in battleground states. And Los Tigres played for the campaign, opening for Christina Aguilera, in Las Vegas Monday night.
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“These artists and public figures are trusted voices for millions of Americans, who listen to their music, follow them on social media, and are inspired by them,” a Harris spokesperson tells Rolling Stone. “The Harris-Walz campaign believes that by using their voices to lay out the stakes of this election, it will further encourage and mobilize Latinos to go vote.”
According to data from Pew Research, 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote in this year’s election, which makes up 14.7 percent of voters in the United States. They’re the largest-growing electorate block in the U.S. In battleground states like Nevada and Arizona, the number of eligible Latino, mostly Mexican American, voters make up more than 22 percent of the states’ total voting bloc.
In Arizona, Los Tigres reminded voters in Spanish to vote early for Harris in the election. “It was so important for us to be present, supporting Kamala after her opponent [Donald Trump] has treated us Latinos with disdain,” bajo sexto player Luis Hernandez tells Rolling Stone. “We’ve always made an effort to support immigrants and our paisanos who live here.”
With their credibility and activism within many of these communities, Los Tigres’ presence on a political stage like Harris’ rally could be key to activating eligible voters, explains Stephanie Valencia, who leads Equis, an org dedicated to building an understanding of the Latino electorate.
“Artists like Tigres Del Norte open up a permission structure for people who see somebody they like and admire, and say, ‘Oh, they’re supporting this,’” says Valencia. “In a world with negative feelings around elections, music provides a bit of joy and optimism, and hopefully makes people more excited to vote.”
With voter demographic data and the reach of Latin music — the fastest-growing genre on streaming this year — in mind, Valencia knew that música mexicana would be an important tool to connect with the Latino electorate this year.
“Mexican regional music was one of the top, if not the top mediums to reach swing voters,” explains Valencia about Equis’ research on the subject. “Not just Latino swing voters, but all swing voters, because swing voters are Latino. And Latinos are swing voters.”
That’s why last month, the organization collaborated with La Original Banda El Limón to write and release a sinaloense-style corrido dedicated to Harris, describing her as la “Se?ora Presidenta,” utilizing a genre of music many Mexican Americans are used to hearing daily. On the corrido, Banda el Limón’s Juan Barboza tells the story of Harris’ rise in politics and spotlights the Vice President’s leadership and immigrant background.
“We hope that… the song inspires our community to embrace our strength and to show up in a critical moment,” Barboza previously told Rolling Stone of the corrido. “This song reflects the values of our community and our vision for a future where our people matter.”
For generations of Mexicans, corridos have been a form of telling stories and passing on information — and U.S. elections have been no exception. In 2016, the late Vicente Fernandez stepped out of retirement to release the ranchera “El Corrido de Hillary Clinton,” through the Latino Victory Project. And this year, accordionist Compa Camaney went viral on TikTok for composing a corrido about Trump’s assassination attempt. Several other election-focused songs in Spanish, including another TikTok viral cumbia “No Se Equivoque Compa” have popped up on social media intending to both entertain and inform.
“They hear the lyrics of a song and they’re like ‘Oh I get that, I understand that,’” explains Valencia. “At Equis, we say that all politics is identity politics. When you give someone an avenue to relate to a campaign or candidate, especially through culture, it opens a new way for people to connect to it.”
Grita Canta Vota, another Latino-focused organization dedicated to encouraging Mexican Americans to vote via music, tapped cumbia norte?a group Control for an eponymous song about the power of voting. Since it dropped in July, the track has been played on 214 Mexican-serving radio stations across the country.
The organization has specifically focused its attention on younger, Latino voters: Nearly 25 percent of American Gen Z’ers are of Hispanic descent, and every year, 1.4 million Latinos become eligible to vote, according to Pew Research. In recent months, the organization has hosted a series of live music events featuring popular Mexican music groups that resonate with Gen Z, Mexican American audiences. Stopping in battleground states including Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona with acts such as T3r Elemento, Eslabón Armado, Banda Los Recoditos, and Lupita Infante, Grita Canta Vota aims to “change the narrative that Latinos don’t vote,” says Bacilia Angel, who helps lead the initiative through the Includus Fund.
“Mexican music will play a huge role in this election because it’s an audience that hasn’t been completely tapped into,” she explains. “We are trying as hard as we can to activate the Latino sleeping giant, and Mexican music is the key to waking it up.”
This fall, the organization attracted over 85,000 attendees and showcased more than 40 community speakers alongside lively performances from the Mexican acts. To boost voter engagement, they also incentivized participants to check and register to vote by raffling tickets to concerts with Xavi and Bésame Mucho Fest in Los Angeles, resulting in over 30,000 folks either pledging to vote or checking their voter registrations through the organization’s website.
“People are there to see the artist but they also learn about how they can use their voice by voting, ”says Angel.
All of the organization’s Vota festivals have also featured an area called “La Placita,” or the Little Plaza, where festivalgoers are incentivized with a raffle to fill out a Lotería bingo card by visiting booths that both inform attendees about what’s on their ballots and help the organization gather data about the biggest barriers to voting for people in the community. Angel says it’s been the kids attending the events with their parents and siblings who are encouraging their families to participate.
“We’re getting the word ‘voting’ in the mouths of 12 and 13-year-olds,” says Angel. “We’re trying to change the narrative about Latino voters, and that takes time. We’re catering to younger people so they start voting now and continue voting for [elections] to come.”
Los Tigres have supported pro-Latino initiatives like these for decades, but bassist Hernán Hernandez hopes to see more Latin music artists using their platform to advocate for their listeners in the future.
“It’s evident that the population of Latinos in this country is growing, and that they identify with Mexican music,” says Hernán. “The Latino vote is so crucial and if we, as artists with platforms can speak for our pueblo, then we’re going to be better represented in our government.”
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