In early August, my editors got here to me with an concept: Go across the nation and ask Latinos whom they plan to vote for and why.
I mentioned no.
Politicos and the media have lengthy been obsessive about the so-called Latino vote. I didn’t have to drive round aimlessly and ask folks whether or not they help Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to know that Latinos are as numerous of their political views as non-Latinos, if no more so.
This sequence isn’t that. And that’s why I ultimately agreed to do it.
Over seven days, throughout seven states and practically 3,000 miles, I checked in with Latinos throughout the American Southwest about the place they’re of their lives, not the place they’ll be on election day.
We mentioned politics, in fact: How might you not, as we close to a presidential election that could possibly be probably the most consequential ever? However it was principally background noise as folks spoke about their hopes, fears and goals as Latinos in a rustic that hasn’t traditionally made issues simple for us, in a yr we are able to make or break democracy, relying on whom you ask.
These are their tales.

Publication
Get the L.A. Instances Politics publication
Deeply reported insights into laws, politics and coverage from Sacramento, Washington and past. In your inbox 3 times per week.
You could sometimes obtain promotional content material from the Los Angeles Instances.