The Democrats’ Latino Problem Isn’t Just the Word ‘Latinx’

A bilingual sign stands outside a polling center at public library ahead of local elections in Austin, Texas, on April 28, 2013. John Moore/Getty Images

Commentary

When Republican candidate Mayra Flores, an immigrant born in Mexico, flipped a congressional seat on June 14 in a part of South Texas that had been a Democratic Party stronghold for generations, pundits were calling the election a referendum on the word “Latinx,” progressives’ new favorite moniker for people of Latin-American descent.