The growth of the Latino population is the most significant demographic shift in the United States today. Yet growth alone cannot explain this population’s increasing impact on the electorate; nor can a parsing of its subethnicities. In the most significant analysis to date on the growing political activation of Latinos, Ricardo Ramírez identifies when and where Latino participation in the political process has come about as well as its many motivations. Using a state-centred approach, the author focuses on the interaction between demographic factors and political contexts, from long-term trends in party competition, to the resources and mobilisation efforts of ethnic organisations and the Spanish-language media, to the perception of political threat as a basis for mobilisation.

The picture that emerges is one of great temporal and geographic variation. In it, Ramírez captures the transformation of Latinos’ civic and political reality and the engines behind the evolution of this crucial electorate.